| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
LOS ANGELES (AP) Mayor Jim Hahn proposed a $5.1 billion city budget Friday that includes money for 720 more police officers, but raises some fees and cuts some services.
The spending plan anticipates reduced tree-trimming and street resurfacing and higher fees for trash pickup, zoo admission and golf course use.
``In the face of significant economic challenges due to a depressed economy, I'm proud to say we're able to meet these (public safety) priorities and move our agenda forward,'' Hahn said.
In all, the budget includes $42 million in cuts and $31 million in fee increases, and calls for the elimination of 399 positions that are vacant because of last year's citywide hiring freeze.
City Council President Alex Padilla said the city ``must do more with less. I am pleased that the mayor has chosen to make public safety a high priority for the city, since we must address the ongoing problem of violence and gang activity in our neighborhoods.''
Padilla said the council, which must vote on the mayor's budget, would ``fine tune'' the proposal and seek out ways to squeeze more for basic services such as street repaving and sidewalk repair.
The biggest proposed fee hike is for residential trash pickup: $10 monthly, up from $6 for single-family residences and $4 for multiunit buildings. That is expected to generate $23 million more in revenue.
Other proposed fee increases:
Raising the sewer service charge, which averages $20.75 monthly for a single-family residence, by an average 62 cents a month.
Admission to the Los Angeles Zoo would go up 75 cents a person. It is now $8.25 for adults, $5.25 for seniors and $3.25 for children.
Fees at city golf courses would increase by $5, bringing the cost of a weekday round of golf to $26.
Hahn said the city has not raised those fees in years, in effect ``subsidizing'' those departments with allocations from the city's general fund.
``We want to put more police officers in neighborhoods, and we think that that is the price of public safety that people will want to pay,'' Hahn said.
The number of firefighters and paramedics would rise by 54 under the proposal, and $3 million would be set aside for the city's new neighborhood councils program, up by $2 million.
Hahn's budget proposal relies heavily on assumptions that the cash-starved state will not cut certain allocations.
For example, should the state end the distribution of Vehicle License Fees to cities, Los Angeles would lose $232 million. Some state legislators want that money earmarked to reduce California's multibillion-dollar shortfall.
``I'm basing this budget on the state of the laws as they current exist,'' Hahn said. ``Obviously, if that changes, we'll have to go back to the drawing board on this budget.''
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