Los Angeles traffic officers and other city employees have long made extra money by picking up overtime shifts for Hollywood award shows, music festivals and other major events. But a critical new audit has renewed concerns that taxpayers unwittingly subsidize what are often commercial enterprises because the city is not fully reimbursed for the services it provides.
In a single 12-month period ending last summer, the city’s transportation department lost as much as $1.8 million because poor bookkeeping made it impossible to track how much the agency was owed for special event overtime, according to an audit released this week by City Controller Ron Galperin.