Los Angeles has found $28 million in the couch cushions.

That’s the word from City Controller Ron Galperin, who has issued a new report on city funds that have been sitting idle for years.

The L.A. city treasury is made up of hundreds of funds that are designated for different purposes. As of March 2018, the treasury had 830 separate “special purpose funds” in addition to the General Fund.

As of June 30, 2017, the balances in the special funds added up to $8.7 billion, or about 90 percent of the total funds in the city treasury.

This has probably happened because nobody trusts politicians, including other politicians, so it’s impossible to get a tax or fee approved unless it is accompanied by a solemn agreement that the money will be used for a particular and specific purpose, and absolutely not for anything else.

However it happened, the taxes and fees that L.A. residents and businesses pay the city tend to be locked up in special-purpose funds with specific restrictions on how the money can be spent. And Galperin found that 123 of these special funds have been sitting idle for four years or longer while no one spent the money at all.

For taxpayers, it’s a pretty aggravating report. As voters were asked to raise taxes for road repair, the city of Los Angeles was sitting on $7.6 million in 13 special funds for street improvements.

As voters were asked to raise taxes for parks, the city was sitting on $7.6 million in eight special funds for parks.

As the homeless crisis grew and voters were asked to raise taxes for housing, the city was sitting on $5.1 million in six special funds for affordable housing.

Los Angeles officials have ignored $3.9 million in 33 funds for economic development, $2.5 million in 27 funds for public safety, $762,000 in seven funds for public works, and $449,000 in 10 funds for social services.

In all, Galperin identified over $28 million in “idle funds.”

That may not be a lot of money in the grand scheme of the L.A. city budget, but it’s money that people were forced to pay in taxes or fees, and it was supposed to be used to solve some problem that was serious enough to get City Hall’s attention.

One special purpose fund called the Warner Center Cultural Affairs Trust has over $227,000 of “1 Percent for the Arts” money, but no money from the fund has been spent in the last six years. The Equestrian Facilities Trust is holding $864,709 and hasn’t spent a penny in the last four years. There’s $2.9 million in the Central City West Housing Trust that has been idle for six years and $4.7 million in a fund called “Parks Assessment” that has been motionless for longer than six years.

Galperin’s office is working on recommendations for new policies and procedures to manage special funds, to review the legal limitations on their use and to find a way for the city to use the money in the idle funds for its originally intended purposes. He’s planning to release a report in the fall.

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Papering over the stream of bad news The “idle funds” investigation is just one of Galperin’s really impressive initiatives for transparency and accountability in city government. In September, Galperin released a report on the public health and safety crisis of homeless encampments and what the city could do to address it. His auditors estimated that the city is spending about $1,000 per hour on some clean-ups of encampments, with a dozen city employees employees, 11 police officers and up to 12 vehicles needed.

The latest report out of the controller’s office takes aim at inefficient management at the Los Angeles Zoo.

Fans of transparent government especially appreciate Galperin’s data portal for L.A.’s finances, ControlPanel LA, that opens a window into city spending for anyone who can bear to look.

Galperin will be speaking at the next meeting of Valley VOTE, and you’re cordially invited. The meeting is Monday evening, May 21, from 6:30 to 8:30, at Galpin Ford, 15555 Roscoe Blvd. in North Hills, in the second-floor conference room. Park in the lots on the west side of Orion Avenue, the side street immediately west of Galpin. See you there.

Southern California News Group columnist and editorial writer Susan Shelley is also president of Valley VOTE. Reach her at Susan@SusanShelley.com, @Susan_Shelley on Twitter.