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3rd transfer of $25M coming to Inside Safe as fiscal concerns loom over LA
T
he Los Angeles City Council Tuesday prepared for the third allocation of funding for the Inside Safe initiative, while one council member continued to warn of an anticipated budget deficit in the 2024-25 fiscal year. Council members Tuesday voted 11-0 to note and file a communication from the chief legislative analyst that notified city leaders that a third transfer of $25 million to the Homeless Emergency Account is set to occur within the next two weeks. Council members Monica Rodriguez, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Paul Krekorian and Imelda Padilla were absent during the vote. Last year, the council and Mayor Karen Bass approved $250 million to fund the mayor's Inside Safe Initiative. An initial allocation of $65.7 million was approved, with the remaining balance placed in the Inside Safe Reserve Fund account. If the HEA account is set to fall below $25 million, city officials notify one another with a 14-day notice and then request the city controller to refill the pot with an additional $25 million. This process will continue until the $184.3 million has been fully allocated to HEA. After the HEA account was anticipated to fall below $25 million, a first transfer was completed on Nov. 30, 2023, and a second transfer was recently made on Feb. 27. Prior to Tuesday's vote, Councilman Bob Blumen-
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Union raises concerns over LA city's 'double dipping' policy By City News Service
By Jose Herrera, City News Service
LADWP headquarters in downtown LA. | Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power/Facebook
A City Hall looms in the background over a homeless encampment in downtown Los Angeles. | Photo courtesy of Ron Reiring/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
field, who chairs the Budget, Innovation and Finance Committee, took a moment to "pause to level set for next year's budget." He highlighted that the $250 million has funded Inside Safe Program and allowed the city to buy the Mayfair Hotel as a permanent interim site — with plans to build a community clinic at the location. "Inside Safe also availed more motels to act as interim sites, which have benefited all of us," Blumen-
field said. "In my district, Inside Safe hotels have helped people at our most entrenched encampments come indoors after months of being offered tiny home shared housing and Bridge Home as different housing options." The councilman stated that motels will be needed to build out the city's interim housing, yet hotels are expensive. "In order to meet our
(LA) Alliance settlement obligations we need to make sure that we continue to build more interim, permanent, modular, shared housing, and ADUs (accessory dwelling units)," Blumenfield said. "We need to build it all." However, the city may have to chart a new path forward, the councilman noted, as there is a "real possibility" that the city may be below 5% in its reserve
See Inside Safe budget Page 23
union leader is continuing to raise concerns Tuesday over a Los Angeles city policy that allows some employees to "double dip" by collecting a pension and then starting a new position at the Department of Water and Power with a higher-than-average salary. Gus Corona, business manager and head of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 18, which represents nearly all DWP workers, sent a ceaseand-desist letter to the city last week. He warned the city's recent actions threaten the solvency of the Water and Power Employees Retirement System, and violates the City Charter. According to Corona, there are four to six city employees that retired from a Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System position, then took a new salaried job with DWP, which has a separate pension system. In 1937, the City Charter established LACERS as a retirement trust fund and outlined a defined benefit retirement plan. Starting in 1999, LACERS began administering the retiree health insurance program. All regular, full-time, and certified part-time city employees are eligible for LACERS membership except employees of the DWP and sworn personnel of the Los Angeles Fire and Police departments, according to the city's website. Corona alleges the City Attorney's Office has "unilaterally changed its interpretation" of the City Charter, allowing workers to "double dip" despite the ban against See 'Double dipping' Page 24