A state board voted today to hand out IOUs that will be repaid on October 2nd at the earliest. Although Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's staff wanted a repayment date to be set for as last as next year June with an 1.5% interest rate, staff with Controller John Chiang said people need their money and next year would be too late. Ultimately, the Pooled Money Investment Board sided with Chiang and put the interest rate at 3.75%. "In 1992, CA IOUs were at 5% interest," twittered John Myers from KQED, noting that it will be interesting to see if people buy and sell IOUs hoping to make a profit. Wells Fargo and Bank of America have said they're willing to accept IOUs before July 10th. $140 million in IOUs will be sent to people expecting income tax returns. A full list of where IOUs will be going is here. more ›

Watch out, Sacramento and local governments statewide! City Controller Laura Chick announced today she is leaving her Los Angeles post a few months early to become the "first-in-the-nation" Inspector General to oversee the use of federal economic stimulus funds given to the state and local municipalities. "I am coming to Sacramento to deter, detect and disclose any waste, fraud and abuse of these precious taxpayer dollars," she said in a prepared statement. She begins her new $175,000-a-year job on April 27th. Between then and July 1st when Controller-Elect Wendy Greuel takes office, Chick's top deputy, Rushmore Cervantes, will assume duties. more ›

After deferring a $150 million payment to Los Angeles County, the Board of Supervisors has voted to take California's controller, John Chiang, to court. The payment was withheld because of the ongoing budget crisis; the Board, however, calls the deferment unconstitutional and says the revenue the state owes the county is badly needed," abc7.com is reporting. Los Angeles is not the first, or only county in California to sue the state and the controller. San Bernardino County's Board of Supervisors also voted to sue when a $204 million payment needed for welfare and other programs was deferred this month. Other lawsuits are coming from San Diego, Sacramento, and San Joaquin Valley, too. more ›

City Controller Laura Chick was scheduled to speak to the LA City Council today about her most recent report on the city not being as emergency and disaster prepared as it should be (.pdf). Following the earthquake, her office sent out this notice at 12:37 p.m,: more ›

It's always interesting to see public officials speak on the same subject and then put their words back to back. Last week LA Weekly published an article by David Ferrell taking aim at Villaraigosa's garbage tax. At issue, the garbage tax that sold to the public was on the premise that it was purely going to building the LAPD's force. That ended up not being true. “I want it to go to the men and women in blue. I want to make sure ... that all the money generated by the trash fee ... is specifically for building our police force,” the mayor is quoted saying in the Weekly. more ›

"You don't actually think they spend $20000.00 on a hammer, $30000.00 on a toilet seat do you?" ~ Independence Day Well, it's the difference between what the new LAPD headquarters currently under construction should cost and is costing. And City Controller Laura Chick, who is responsible for auditing city spending to find misuse, abuse and savings, is making headlines by putting departments city who oversee contracts and contractors themself on notice, starting with the... more ›