CITY HALL NEEDS AN ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT 'BUSINESS AS USUAL' MENTALITY JUST PERPETUATES INEFFICIENCY, WASTE.

Byline: Wendy Greuel  LOCAL VIEW

THERE has never been a greater need to change the business-as-usual mentality of City Hall.

Just two weeks ago, it was announced that the city will lose $47 million in funding this year due to the state's budget crisis. Every time the state and federal governments find themselves in a fiscal mess, they look to local government to bail them out.

In response, local governments like the city of Los Angeles force residents to walk the plank - making a false choice between higher taxes or service cuts. Our elected leaders would have us believe that this is the choice we are faced with today. I, however, reject these options. There is another way.

Instead of relying on tired, bureaucratic schemes of tax increases and service cuts, city leaders need to fundamentally re-examine the city's operations and root out inefficiency and waste. Simply put, the city of Los Angeles needs an attitude adjustment. Government can and must do more with less.

Elected officials are paid to creatively solve city problems; we should not take the easy way out. Now more than ever, the city must address its economic inefficiencies and streamline the way it does business. Efficient government should not be an oxymoron.

As the new chair of the City Council's committee on government efficiency, I will fight to protect valuable taxpayer dollars.

There is a lot of wisdom in our community about improving government efficiency and eliminating waste. Over the past several weeks, I have met with neighborhood, business and labor leaders who have ideas about how to make the delivery of city services more efficient. These ideas are not complex or cumbersome; they're smart, solid reforms that will save the city money, freeing up scarce resources to effectively target our communities' needs.

One such example of an opportunity for reform is the city's ``311 - One Call to City Hall'' hotline. Despite the creation of this highly touted hotline, which was designed to enable residents to access over 1,400 city services through one phone number, there are still approximately 144 toll-free phone numbers in use by city departments and agencies.

Maintaining these obsolete numbers costs the city $540,000 dollars annually. That's over half a million taxpayer dollars that could be spent delivering additional city services.

But there is more to be done. By removing sworn police officers from desk jobs, we could put more officers back on the streets where they belong. The reduction in crime would certainly create savings for the city.

The city also loses millions of dollars in revenue due to archaic collection procedures that do not utilize the latest technology. (Billing for paramedic services is still done by hand!) A minimal investment in technology could go a long way.

In addition to using taxpayer dollars efficiently, city government must become more effective in getting the dollars it's due from the state and federal government. The secession debate highlighted Los Angeles' dismal performance in getting state and federal funds - money that residents deserve to have returned to them. By fighting for the city and Valley's fair share of these dollars, we could increase service delivery. It's time for city, state and federal leaders to coordinate efforts to ensure that residents get the money and services to which they are entitled.

If we use a little common sense and demand that our city government change the way it does business, we can save significant amounts of money - money that should be used for paving streets, supporting businesses, job creation and putting more public safety officers on our streets.

Government efficiency is more than just bureaucratic lip service. It is about real reform that protects the public's money and ultimately delivers more services to the people. City leaders now have the opportunity and responsibility to change government efficiency from a contradiction in terms into a reality.