LA budget committee to conduct community meeting

The Los Angeles City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee holds a meeting in East L.A. Monday night to seek suggestions on how the city should address its gaping budget deficit.

It’s the latest in a series of neighborhood meetings about the $685 million budget shortfall. This is L.A.’s worst deficit ever – the result of plummeting tax revenues and increasing obligations to its employee retirement plan.

The L.A. city council’s considering measures that include raising ambulance fees, shifting sidewalk repair costs to property owners and charging fees for some emergency medical services from the fire department.

Even with these measures, staff layoffs are likely. The council’s proposed eliminating as many as four thousand positions.

One key question is whether to include police officers in that number. Tonight’s meeting is at six o’clock at the El Sereno Recreation Center.