Here's all about the proposed:

DWP Rate Rollback

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Citywide Issues Group helped get the word out to the Neighborhood Councils in one of the first issues on which NC positions were effectively transmitted to City Council -- prior to an important vote on DWP rate hikes.

The Council's decision at that time was to limit the amount of the rate hike (from the 18% originally requested to 11%), based partly on the overwhelming reaction of LA's stakeholders.

But the issue isn't over, and now we'd like your NC's input on rolling back the rates ...

Some background:

DWP Rate Hike
This is from an article in the August 2004 Apartment Age Magazine:

LA City Council Takes $60 Million
from DWP to Balance Budget

On Friday, June 25, 2004, The Los Angeles City Council voted 13-0 to approve a $60 Million "one time" transfer from the Department of Water & Power to the city's general fund. This transfer makes a total of $280 Million that the city has taken from DWP this year.

The transfer of this $60 Million was never mentioned during our negotiations with the city over its proposed 18% DWP rate increase. This large transfer came out of left field and was an act of desperation by city council members to balance the city's budget without public oversight.

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Here's what's happening now:

It would seem that after the DWP got it's 11% rate hike, only to later admit they needed less then 5% (remember they were asking for 18%) that the idea of rolling back the rate hike pending the financial review is something all NCs can support. Please place the following language on a motion of support on an agenda item at your earliest convenience.

"The _____ Neighborhood Council supports the suspension of the recently passed 11% rate hike until such time an independent review can show such increase is justified."

"The _____ Neighborhood Council does NOT support the suspension of the recently passed 11% rate hike."

Here we go again, although now we can be FOR something.

Jim Alger
JimAlger@socal.rr.com

Councilmen propose DWP rate rollback (Los Angeles Daily News) By Rick Orlov Staff Writer Two Los Angeles City Council members got a cool reception Friday to a proposal to roll back the Department of Water and Power's 11 percent water rate hike temporarily unless it makes major management changes to prevent waste and fraud. Council members Antonio Villaraigosa and Jack Weiss issued their call for the rollback as the City Attorney's Office filed a civil suit against public relations giant Fleishman-Hillard, accusing it of fraud and overbilling the DWP. "We need to hold the sword of Damocles over the head of the DWP until we have some guarantees they will change their management approach," Villaraigosa said. However, it was unclear if the City Council would approve such a step, with both Mayor James Hahn and other officials questioning the action. The filing of the lawsuit by City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo was announced at a news conference where he was joined by Hahn and Controller Laura Chick, whose office exposed the Fleishman-Hillard problem months ago. "This is a case of outright fraud," Delgadillo said. "The ratepayers of this city were ripped off -- intentionally and maliciously. My job is to defend the ratepayers of this city -- and that's what this lawsuit seeks to do. We will get the ratepayers' money back." Hahn endorsed the action even though it had been one of his largest political supporters both in his election and in his fight against San Fernando Valley secession. "Wrongdoing will not be tolerated," Hahn said. "I support this and will make the full resources of my office and the Department of Water and Power available to help the city attorney in this action." The civil action is in addition to any criminal charges that could develop as a result of a separate investigation by District Attorney Steve Cooley. Delgadillo acknowledged the lawsuit -- which seeks unspecified damages -- was possible only because of the identification of a former Fleishman-Hillard employee, Diana Greenwood, in a Los Angeles Times story alleging the firm had overbilled the city for its work to meet a monthly quota. An investigation had been under way, but it was not until he had a specific witness that the lawsuit could go forward, Delgadillo said. Richard Kline, a Fleishman senior vice president and head of the Los Angeles office, said the firm was cooperating with the inquiry. "We regret the city attorney of Los Angeles has taken this action," Kline said. "We can't comment on pending litigation, but our firm would not accept or condone any misrepresentation of a client billing. It goes against everything we have stood for. Kline also announced the firm had placed Douglas R. Dowie, who had headed the Los Angeles office, on paid administrative leave. Dowie, a former editor at the Daily News from 1985 to 1990, had headed the Los Angeles office for the firm and developed close relations with the Hahn administration. Hahn's former key aide Matt Middlebrook now works for Fleishman-Hillard and Shannon Murphy, a former executive with the PR firm, now is a deputy mayor and spokeswoman for Hahn. The Villaraigosa-Weiss proposals also included a call to expand the city's whistle-blower hotline and look at creating a new post of inspector general to oversee the city's proprietary departments of Airports, Harbor, and Water and Power. "It would be similar to the inspector general posts at the Los Angeles Unified School District or the MTA," Villaraigosa said. "Every time the public reads about mismanagement such as this, it hurts all of us at City Hall. "It destroys the public trust in what we're trying to do. We need an independent official who can look out for taxpayers and uncover fraud and corruption."

please feel free to send any results in an email to: Steve Twining sctcpa90077@yahoo.com (please include your name, email address, and Neighborhood Council) .