League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Los Angeles County, CA March 5, 2013 Election
	Matt Szabo Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member; City of Los Angeles; District 13

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What do you think is the single most important issue facing the City of Los Angeles today? As Council Member, what would you do to deal with it?

Without question, the ongoing financial crisis presents the greatest threat to the public sector as we know it in the City of Los Angeles. It remains a very real question whether or not the city will be able to maintain its level of public service in a sustainable way moving forward. I love this city, and I believe in its workforce. I think we deserve better solution out of City Hall than the same old tired uninspired and intellectually lazy solutions that have been coming out of the bureaucracy for the past four years. It is critical that elected leaders in 2013 who have the capacity to develop and advance better, smarter solutions that protect and enhance public service rather than reduce and dismantle it. We need leaders who know how to lead the bureaucrats, not be led by them.

2. The City Administrative Officer has estimated a $200M budget shortfall for 2013-2014 increasing to $300M in 2015-2016. What steps do you propose to deal with this problem, and how much do you estimate each step would reduce the shortfall?

When I took over budget and finance responsibilities in September of 2009, the city was facing a fiscal tidal wave. Although the city still has a significant structural deficit of more than $200 million, had we not taken aggressive action to reduce payroll, renegotiate labor contracts, establish more sustainable pension tiers for new sworn and civilian personnel and increase active employee contributions to pensions and health care, we would be facing a deficit of close to $1 billion today.

That said, there is much more to be done in order eliminate the structural deficit and put the city on solid financial footing for the long term.

Pensions. The new tiers for sworn and civilian personnel made significant progress in reducing the long-term unfunded liability. And the increase in active employee contributions reduced the city's near-term costs. Pension funds currently spend far too much + more than $150 million annually + on fund managers. And in many cases, fund managers have underperformed the market. This needs to be addressed, and it would result in a reduction of a 100 million.

Health care. I believe the city, like any large employer, has a responsibility to provide comprehensive family health care options to its employees and share in the cost. But in order for those benefits to be sustainable, employees need to take on a greater share of the costs moving forward. For example, the city should not provide PPO coverage at no charge to the employee. Charging for basic PPO coverage would encourage more employees to choose HMO coverage, expanding the pool and lowering the rate. We also need to look at putting all city employees into one pool, rather than separating fire, police, retired fire, retired police, DWP, retired DWP and non-DWP civilians into seven separate pools. This would lead to 30 - 50 million in reductions.

Revenue. Measures to improve the city's business climate will lead to increased tax revenue + even business tax reduction if done correctly. But we also need to look at other forms of revenue, including public private partnerships (partnership, not privatization!) for specific uses (e.g., the L.A. Zoo), and special taxes or bonds for specific projects (parks, transit). Acting on the following recommendations would lead to hundreds of millions worth in reductions.

3. Do you support the ballot measure to increase the sales tax in the city?

No.

4. What role do you feel the City of Los Angeles has to play in addressing climate change? Please explain in terms of what you as a city councilmember would have the power to do.

Currently the DWP is the dirtiest municipal utility in the country, getting its power from dirty coal. The biggest contribution the city can make is by shutting down the coal burning facilities, and replacing them with renewable energy resources.

5. How would you prioritize your local constituency versus the City as a whole when acting as a Council Member?

I am running for the honor to serve one of the most progressive forward-thinking communities in the city. The resident that I represent understand that the best interest in the city is also in the interest of the local communities.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League. 

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: January 5, 2013 07:08
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