UTILITY CALLS FOR BUYOUTS; DWP PLAN WOULD OFFER $25,000 TO UP TO 1,780.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Moving to trim its work force to be more competitive under deregulation, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is preparing to pay up to 1,780 workers a minimum of $25,000 each to leave their jobs during the next year.

The DWP commission approved a $2.5 billion agency budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 that includes $39 million for ``golden parachutes'' for 1,500 electric system workers.

That buyout program is in addition to the $7 million already budgeted this year to pay 280 engineers and support workers to leave their jobs.

Under the current buyout program, employees get one week of salary for every year of service, with a minimum payment of $25,000.

A similar program two years ago resulted in some DWP workers getting up to $89,000 to leave the DWP.

DWP spokesman Ed Freudenburg said the buyouts are necessary to smoothly reduce the work force of an agency that faces competition from other electric utilities in the coming years.

``If you give them tens of thousands of dollars, it provides them with an incentive to leave,'' he said, adding that once the 1,500 positions are vacated in next year's budget, the department will save $90 million a year in future years because of the smaller work force.

However, the proposal raised some eyebrows in and out of City Hall, especially because DWP officials already are talking about raising some electrical rates for consumers next year.

``The department certainly knows how to take care of their own at taxpayers' expense,'' said Kris Vosburgh, executive director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. ``This is a deal that most taxpayers wouldn't get if they lost their jobs.''

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas predicted that the council will want to scrutinize the buyout plan, especially given controversies involving past DWP buyouts.

The last buyout drew criticism after the Daily News reported that six workers who already had left the DWP for other city jobs, returned to the DWP and worked for two months or less to qualify for the $25,000 payout.

The work force reduction plan is just part of an effort to reduce the DWP's massive debt by $300 million next year.

That effort also includes a plan to increase electrical rates to DWP customers.

DWP Manager Jon Lambeck said the staff is looking at increases in a range of 5 percent to 10 percent.