Shining the light: Controller Laura Chick has used new powers granted in L.A.'s city charter to bring attention to agencies' financial problems. (People).LAURA Laura, subject of the love poems of Petrarch. She is thought to be Laura de Noves (1308?–1348), wife of Hugo de Sade, but this has not been proved. Laura Petrarch’s perpetual, unattainable love. [Ital. Lit. Chick broke new ground with her election as City Controller nearly two years ago, succeeding the termed out Rick Tuttle Rick Tuttle (born 1940) was Los Angeles City Controller from 1985 to 2001. He stressed the importance of creating a strong democratic influence at UCLA, which was in his words "the best large public university in a major city. , who held the office for 16 years. Chick; who served two terms on the City Council as representative from the West San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. is the first Controller able to use a wide range of auditing and financial powers granted by the new city charter. She has used those new powers by releasing audits of city departments and agencies embroiled em·broil tr.v. em·broiled, em·broil·ing, em·broils 1. To involve in argument, contention, or hostile actions: "Avoid . . . in controversy including the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power Often, the audits have brought new problems to light and brought more unwelcome attention to city managers. Other audits are due on the Port of Los Angeles The Port of Los Angeles is located on San Pedro Bay in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, approximately 20 miles (30 km) south of downtown. Also called Los Angeles Harbor and WORLDPORT LA , DWP DWP Department of Work and Pensions (UK) DWP Drinking Water Program DWP Dynamic Weapon Pricing (gamin, Counter-Strike: Source) DWP Department of Water & Power DWP Drinking Water Protection and the scandal-plagued Entertainment Industry Development Corp. Question: One function of the controller's office is to track the city's economic outlook. What is your take on the economic condition right now? Answer: We seem to be riding along almost on an air cushion air cushion n. 1. Trapped air that supports a vehicle a short distance above the surface of land or water. 2. A device that uses trapped air to absorb the shock of motion, especially in vehicles. Also called air spring. . We're slightly above the gloom and doom we see in other parts of the state or country. Part of the reason for this is the diversity of our economy. But tight, tight, tight times are coming from government, especially state government. Q: Which of the city's revenue streams are doing well and which are not? A: Anything having to do with real estate is doing very well. But travel and tourism is shaky. The transit occupancy tax is quite weak, and the sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. is flat. The business tax also isn't growing as much as we expected. The dollars from scofflaws are not flowing in. Q: But the city has launched all these efforts to track down business tax scofflaws. You're saying it isn't working? A: We overestimated how much we could get from that state legislation allowing us to obtain state income tax data. We're finding mostly small businesses or individuals who don't owe much tax, if any. The really big dollars that we're missing out on are from major businesses that have operations here but aren't based here. I'm talking I'm Talking was a 1980s Australian funk-pop rock band, noted for launching vocalist Kate Ceberano. History After the break-up of the Melbourne-based experimental funk band Essendon Airport in 1983, members Robert Goodge (guitar), Ian Cox (saxophone) and Barbara Hogarth about Fortune 500 companies. I expect I'll have more to say about this soon; we are auditing the Office of Finance. Q: That's going to make you unpopular in some circles. A: I don't want to gouge gouge (gouj) a hollow chisel for cutting and removing bone. gouge n. A strong curved chisel used in bone surgery. gouge a hollow chisel for cutting and removing bone. businesses. But if there are businesses that are reaping significant benefits from doing business in our city and legitimately under our existing ordinances owe us business tax, we need to look at that and go after and collect. It is only by collecting what is legitimately owed to us that we can then turn around and lower the business tax rates for everyone. Q: As you have looked at the city's books, how does L.A. seem to stack up financially? A: When I looked at the scandals with Enron and Arthur Andersen, the city of L.A. government can serve as a role model for private corporations and other public agencies -- including the state government -- in terms of balancing our budget and in financial accountability. Financially, we err to the side of being overly conservative. We tighten our belt when we have to, we make cuts when we have to. Q: That doesn't square with the view that L.A. city government is the most inefficient, the most wasteful and the most expensive local government in the country. A: Listen, I have things to keep me busy from here to kingdom come when it comes to things we can do better or differently. What I'm talking about is fiscal responsibility and fiscal accountability. We balance our books, we invest our funds wisely, we make cuts when we have to. Now can we do better? Absolutely. And one of the things government hasn't been good about is constantly self-evaluating, constantly looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. better ways to do things. In fact, until very recently, city government has been very insular and very resistant to change and can learn a lot from the private sector. Q: What can the city learn from the private sector? A: For one thing, the private sector collects its bills better. Also, it does much better planning for the future and keeping up with technological improvements. On a broader note, I have observed that in hard budget times governments have a tendency to cut everything that doesn't have to do with direct delivery of services. Sometimes we very foolishly cut the positions that are revenue generating, like auditors and bill collectors or parking enforcement. Q: Last year you audited the Los Angeles Visitors and Convention Bureau and recommended serious structural and procedural changes. Where do things stand now? A: The board of the Visitors and Convention Bureau has moved quickly to make many of the changes suggested in the audit. Among those changes are much clearer performance standards, so it's not just the numbers of conventions booked.. Also, they've implemented some spending controls. And the city is reworking its contract with the bureau and is very much using the roadmap provided in the audit. Q: You are auditing the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. What are you looking for and when is the report due? A: This audit has a very clear focus on the city's contract with the EIDC: how it's been working and whether it's achieved the goals set out when the contract was drawn up. I have found in 18 months and over 50 audits that the city needs to radically improve its contracting process. This is especially true when dealing with a non-profit or quasi-governmental agency, which the LACVB and the ELDC ELDC Economically Less Developed Country both are. It also applies to the audit we did recently of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo The Los Angeles Zoo founded in 1966, is a large zoo located in Los Angeles, California, USA. The Zoo, located in Los Angeles' Griffith Park, is home to 1,200 animals from around the world. Association. Q: You are one of the few people who have made the transition from City Council to citywide office as head of a department. What's been the biggest adjustment? A: There's the obvious change in perspective from being a councilmember, where my district was top priority, to a citywide office. It comes more naturally for me to have a citywide view. As a councilmember, I fought for my council district and that had to be my top priority. But I was always interested in issues and problems that were citywide and even region-wide. That was one of the reasons I went back to school at age 40 to get a master's in social work. Q: The city charter gave your office some new powers. What are they and how are you using them? A: One of our new functions is to report each year on the city's debt levels. Also, a whole new section of this office focuses on financial reporting, including the fiscal year-end Fiscal Year-End The completion of a one-year, or 12-month, accounting period. Notes: The reason that a company's fiscal year often differs from the calendar year and does not close on Dec 31, is due to the nature of company's needs. financial statements, revenue forecasts and major costs like workers' compensation workers' compensation, payment by employers for some part of the cost of injuries, or in some cases of occupational diseases, received by employees in the course of their work. . And then there are the performance audits of city departments and programs -- that's a huge change. Q: How have you approached these performance audits? A: I try to meet or at least phone the general manager of the department before any audit to let them know we are looking for their personal involvement. I learned early on that if you just walk in the door and start auditing, you can spend months on the back end arguing about the conclusions and recommendations. Q: What are your goals for the rest of the term? A: I want the auditing process to become a built-in feature of city government, where department heads don't wait for me to come out with an audit but are busy trying to measure their department's performance on a regular basis. I also want to see the new payroll system implemented and a new financial management system under way. We are so far behind in the use of state-of-the-art technology and up-to-date business systems. Sometimes I wonder how we do as good a job as we do, given the state of our technology. And there is much more we can do to improve our financial management. It's chopped up into too many departments and divisions and there's no chief financial officer. RELATED ARTICLE: INTERVIEW Laura Chick Title: Controller Organization: City of Los Angeles
Born: June 1944, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Education: Bachelor's degree, U.S. history, UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX ; master's in social work, USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. Career Turning Point: Two years in graduate school at USC starting at age 40, which launched career in public sector. Most Admired People: Eleanor Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart Personal: Divorced; two grown daughters; moved from San Fernando Valley to Silver Lake last year Hobbies: Bike riding, beachcombing |
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