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Have you seen the news reports that the City of LA is owed $540 million – more than last year’s budget crisis? That’s because of a new report by an oversight committee that was formed this spring after we exposed the outrageous overdue collections in our Strong Budget.
The Daily News reports that the city will appoint a “collections sheriff” to help collect $540 million that is “desperately needed to fund programs.” Click here to read the full story.
City Workers Sounded the Alarm on Deadbeat Debtors
“If the city did its job to collect the money it’s owed then we would have the funds to service our communities,” said Renard Vine, a heavy duty truck operator in the Southeast Yard. “Streets aren’t getting swept, services aren’t being provided, constituents are calling in with major complaints.”
The report on Monday, October 4, said the city has “no centralized billing and collection process,” few penalties for delinquent debtors, and needs a “sense of urgency.” That’s exactly what we said last spring.
City workers’ actions are a big part of why the city is finally taking this seriously. We even held an action in March outside Prestige Parking, the city’s biggest debtor, to bring public attention to the issue. Click here to watch a video and read more.
In addition, the city needs to create a central debtor database and ban campaign contributions from big debtors such as parking lots who are still doing business with the city despite owing millions of dollars in overdue fees and taxes.
Learn More
Read the Report: Get the full report of the Commission on Revenue Enhancement released Oct. 4, 2010. Click here to get the report (pdf)
Get the Facts: Read the SEIU 721 Fact Sheet about collections. Click here to get our fact sheet (pdf)