Council looks to shift costs

City Council members debated Thursday whether the city could save money by reducing contract costs and making property owners pay to repair sidewalks as they worked to close a $684 million deficit looming over Los Angeles. Daily News.

The council did approve a $147 million transfer from the Department of Water and Power, an annual payment that represents 8 percent of the revenue generated by power operations. The city is banned from taking money from water operations.

Most of the meeting, however, was spent discussing ways for the city to generate more revenue, such as aggressively collecting bad debts and asking contractors to reduce their bills by 10 percent.