L.A. City Hall layoffs loom

The L.A. Daily News reports:

In a sign of the massive budget problems facing Los Angeles City Hall, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa told managers Wednesday to begin preparing for possible layoffs.

Previous mayors also have warned of potential staff cuts in times of financial squeezes, but city government hasn't laid off any workers since the early 1980s.

The mayor's warning comes during attempts to close a $155 million gap by June 30. The situation is worse next fiscal year, which starts July 1, when the shortfall could teeter between $300 million and $500 million.

"In order to maintain our commitment to expanding public safety and providing essential city services, it is only prudent to prepare ourselves for the tough actions which may be necessary in the budget ahead," Villaraigosa said.

He and his staff are now developing a spending plan for fiscal year 2008-09 and deciding which services to recommend cutting. That will determine how many positions need to be eliminated, officials said.

If needed, layoffs would begin in the middle of this year and probably continue into 2009.

Police, firefighting and sanitation services would be exempt from cuts, as would jobs that generate money. And the mayor reiterated his vow to finish adding 1,000 new police officers to the force.

For other departments, however, the mayor has asked the Personnel Department to update employee work histories to identify those with the least seniority who would be

among the first to be let go.

Under civil-service rules, an employee whose job is eliminated has the right to move into a similar job in another department, displacing a less-senior employee there.

Because of that process, it can take six months to complete a layoff.

City government has 25,000 people on the payroll other than safety-agency employees, and the number of possible layoffs is unknown.

They sure are special.