League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Los Angeles County, CA May 21, 2013 Election
	J. Roy Garcia Answers Questions Candidate for Council Member; City of Los Angeles; District 6

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What do you think is the single most important issue facing the City of Los Angeles today? As Council Member, what would you do to deal with it?

The single most important issue facing the city is the deficit.we need to examine our spending and prioritize so that we are not wasting our tax dollars. As a councilman I will work with our city controller to continue to identify and curb wasteful spending. We have been told by our elected officials that the deficit was over two hundred million dollars and that we needed to raise taxes in order to save vital city services. When proposition A didn't pass all of a sudden the deficit was not so big and the projected deficit was now less than one hundred million dollars. We need to first know what the real deficit is in order to balance our budgets. The residents of the City of los Angeles live within their budget and demand that the city live within its budget.

2. 85% of the City's General Fund Budget is for personnel costs. If forced to cut costs to balance the budget, would you favor reducing the number of employees or asking existing employees to accept lower wages and/or reduced benefits?

If forced to cut costs I would advocate to identify areas where services are being duplicated. We will need to make tough decisions keeping in mind that we are dealing with people's lives and the future of our city. In good times we entered into contracts that now are putting the solvency of the city at risk. we need to sit down with the city employee representatives and together seek fair and balanced solutions to our growing problem. This may mean that we reduce personnel through early retirement and or renegotiating existing contracts to limit raises till such a time that the city can afford it.

3. Do you support the DWP taking steps to reduce carbon emissions even if that will result in increased bills for ratepayers?

While I support the reduction of carbon emissions we cannot continue to give the DWP a blank check. We need to be able to control all costs and seek ways to reduce emissions that will have the least monetary impact on the residents of Los Angeles. A thorough review or audit of the DWP is necessary in order to identify areas where costs can be contained and where savings can be realized.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League. 

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: April 1, 2013 14:22
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