$7 Million Worth of L.A. City Hall Gas Has Gone Missing With No Explanation

By Dennis Romero Thu., Mar. 29 2012 at 12:56 PM

Images Money

Other people's money. It's so fun to play with. Especially when it's yours.

Let us explain: Today city controller Wendy Greuel said her latest audit has discovered that more than $7 million worth of fuel costs have gone basically unexplained at City Hall.

That's your tax money at work, and it's enough to hire lots of cops and firefighters. And it's gone, in the ether like smoke after a fire:

According to a statement from Greuel's office today, her audit looked at city fuel costs for a 22-month period and found that ...

... more than $7 million in fuel was taken without any information identifying the vehicle or purpose that the gas was intended for and that City departments ignored a $12 million fuel tracking system that the City purchased a decade ago to help prevent this type of abuse.

Oops.

Final Fuel Use Report 3-29-12 (1)

Greuel wants to set up a "fuel task force" too look into the losses.

She also wants to see "keypad" access at fueling stations, which works around the tracking system, tightly controlled.

The controller said that $4 million of the $7 million in lost costs was a result of this loophole. No one seems to know why or for what the fuel was pumped.

Additional, she wants to see paper or manual fuel logs to document why fuel is being pumped via keypad access.

Greuel says:

What we have here is a problem that is exacerbated by the fact that City leaders are not holding managers accountable. In the private sector, it would be unthinkable to take millions in supplies or resources and ignore a multi-million dollar system that was designed to prevent theft or illegitimate use of resources, or in this case, the City's fuel. My audit reveals that there is a tremendous lack of oversight when it comes to the City's fuel use.

$7 mil up in smoke wouldn't be such a big deal if the city weren't perpetually swimming in red ink and battling with police and fire unions over things like overtime and hiring. With a new, $200 million deficit looming this summer, that's enough cash to get mad about it.

And, like we said, it's yours.

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

Tags:

audit, budget, City Hall, deficit, fuel, gas, Los Angeles, Wendy Greuel

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Decent_American

Most of the gas was stolen from the POLICE Department pumps. Typical, overpaid, under worked PIGS

anonymous

Did Wendy do anything about city employees using city cars to lunch in far-off cities as exposed by the media? Of course not. She is grandstanding as usual.

Apples

Wendy just cut-and-pasted Laura Chick's audit from 2009. Shameless.

T_K_Nagano

"City departments ignored a $12 million fuel tracking system that the City purchased a decade ago to help prevent this type of abuse."

Look at the supervisors and department heads. Did they want to know who's getting "free fuel." - TK

wisenotes

what a joke. this report is funny coming from wendy greuel. she drives a city car and gets to park wherever she wants. all the elected politicians get to drive city cars and park wherever they want on top of their $200,000 yearly salary with plush benefits (health care, vacation, pension, doing next to no work). isn't that a waste of money and gas?!?!?! thanks for spending millions of dollars every day on useless obvious reports.

Yjdraiman

Are LA voters angry enough to change the current administration at Los Angeles City Hall? LA voters in the March 2011 Elections voted for incumbents - People do not care, why? Why do we think LA city election on March 5, 2013 will be any different? I would think with the poor performance and dismal track record by the current administration, the voters would demand to change the current administration at LA City Hall.The performance of the current administrations borders on criminal neglect.In order to move forward, we must educate the voters, let them know that the current administration goals are business as usual, there will be no significant changes and the city will be heading into bankruptcy. The escalating costs of pensions and benefits will drain most of the city budget as we head into 2020. The increased taxes and fees on residents and businesses will push people and businesses to leave the city. This again will reduce revenues to the city. The city must initiate an austerity program. Cut salaries and benefits across the board, increase efficiency and performance. The Police Department should utilize civil service employees for clerical work, not Police Officers. The city must tighten its belt and reduce taxes and fees, streamline bureaucracy. Promote the health of existing businesses and actively go after new businesses. Any city employee who is not performing his job to standards should be put on suspension without pay or benefits and if such action has not improved the workers performance, the worker/employee should be terminated. The city must utilize its most expensive resource, its employees more efficiently, promote a good work environment and reward exceptional performance. People must realize that if they do not do their job, they will have no job and no means of support. The city must streamline management and reduce management costs. A high administrative cost is not prudent and not sustainable. LA’s employee costs are one of the highest in the country. We need a change in attitude, and that starts at the top. As they say in good leadership, “follow me”. The main question is, why LA voters don't care, why they are resigned to accept failure and diminishing LA city services. Can we not find a leader who will motivate City Hall and initiate hard choices to bring the city to financial health? City elections should be held on the first Tuesday of November with all the other elections to Federal, County & State.It will reduce costs and increase voter turnout.YJ DraimanPS“The choice we face in Los Angeles and as a nation is simple: Do we want the clean energy and conservation technologies of tomorrow to be invented in America by American innovators, made by American workers and sold around the world, or do we want to concede those jobs to our competitors? asks Energy Specialist YJ Draiman. “We can and must compete for those jobs.” In Los Angeles, we have the technology, the climate, the resources and the manpower. Let us proceed with conviction. YJ Draiman http://www.yjdraimanformayor.c...