EDITORIAL FULL DISCLOSURE PUBLIC DESERVES COMPLETE ACCOUNTING OF DWP SPENDING BEFORE RATE INCREASE.

THE Los Angeles City Council needs to stop acting like a rubber stamp for the mighty Department of Water and Power and refuse to approve an 18 percent water-rate hike until there is a full accounting of where all those millions of dollars are going.

To do less would be an abdication of the council's responsibility to the public that pays the bills.

DWP officials have yet to come up with a reasonable explanation for the hike - which amounts to an average of $50 a year for every household and much higher in the San Fernando Valley - other than some laughable excuse about protecting its bond rating.

The agency needs to make a big investment in security and water-quality upgrades. But instead of cutting back on expenses to pay for it - as Los Angeles households will have to do to pay for their higher water bills - DWP officials continue their lavish spending on high-end public-relations campaigns, on junkets and feel-good programs, on investments in private companies for questionable projects and, most significantly, the highest salaries of the country's highest-paid municipality.

And even the revenue from the rate hike won't be enough. Since it can't figure out how to cut costs, the DWP is going to borrow $1.5 billion, at who knows what interest rate.

Perhaps this is a strategy that Angelenos should adopt to deal with the bigger bills due to the various rate increases and fees that city officials keep coming up with in recent months - the two trash fees, the sewer rate increase, the water fee, the various service fee increases, even the towing fee increase last year. It adds up.

But instead of cutting back on dinners out or weekly movie outings or visits to the chiropractor, Angelenos could demand that their employers increase their pay to make up for it. Sound like a great plan?

Unfortunately, private businesses don't operate that way. Nor should a city government that's charged with the fiduciary duty of handling billions in our hard-earned tax dollars.

The people of Los Angeles need to remember that, in this case, they are the employers of City Hall, even though the officials mostly act like Marie Antoinette, arrogantly turning up their noses at the lowly masses.

Community opposition is building against the hike, and rebellious Northwest Valley Councilman Greig Smith wants an independent audit of the DWP's finances to make sure there's no rate increase until the utility stops its wasteful spending and giveaways.

It's time for Angelenos to make some noise, to let those who set the policy in City Hall know that their true bosses aren't happy with how they've been spending our money. Otherwise, the ``fee'' increases will never end.

It's time to let them know that, as their employer, the people of Los Angeles demand that the City Council examine the true expenses of the DWP and offer a full accounting of this rate increase before it votes. The very integrity of government is on the line.