COUNCIL MAY ASK FOR CITYHOOD AUDIT.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

The Los Angeles City Council will consider on Friday requesting a state audit of the final financial report of San Fernando Valley cityhood, but critics say it would be yet another attempt to delay a vote on secession.

Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, a leading secession critic, has asked the council to consider requesting the audit, although she said she has not decided whether it will be necessary. The issue is on Friday's council agenda - the very last day the council could act to meet the deadline for requesting the audit.

``I think we should discuss it, we should know what the implications are, what the costs would be and what the grounds would be,'' Miscikowski said.

Requests for the audit are due Monday afternoon - 30 days after the financial report was issued - and secession supporters accused Miscikowski of waiting until the last minute in order to delay the process.

``Clearly this is an attempt by her and the city to put another roadblock in the process, by waiting for the last moment,'' said Richard Close, chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment. ``They're (requesting) it at the last possible time in order to make sure the review is done at the last possible time - all in an attempt to avoid getting this on the November ballot.''

Close - an alternate commissioner on the Local Agency Formation Commission, the agency overseeing secession - said he understood that the city's largest employee union, the Service Employees International Union Local 347, has also requested a review of the Comprehensive Fiscal Analysis. SEIU officials could not be reached Tuesday for confirmation.

Miscikowski said she was not trying to delay the process, but that it took this long to study and work out some issues connected with the request.

Under state law, anyone can request an audit of LAFCO's fiscal analysis within 30 days of its issue, but that party has to pay for the report. That deadline is Monday afternoon, according to LAFCO officials.

LAFCO can decide whether to forward a request to the state controller, and can reject the request or any element of it if it is ``frivolous, immaterial, redundant, overly general, vague, ambiguous or not in compliance with these procedures,'' according to a LAFCO document. The audit can be requested on the entire CFA or just a part.

The State Controller's Office has 45 days to conduct the audit, if requested. It has declined to provide a cost estimate because such a review can vary widely in scope, depending on the exact request.

A spokeswoman for Mayor James Hahn said he has not yet decided whether he wants to request an audit, but that the decision will not be tied to any attempt to delay a vote.

``It's always been the mayor's intention to give voters a chance to vote on secession when everybody thought it was going to be, which is this November,'' said Hahn spokeswoman Julie Wong.