The 1998-99 Los Angeles County Grand Jury invited a distinguished array of speakers to inform, educate, and enlighten its members. Included were representatives from Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Los Angeles City Council, law enforcement, education, transportation, children's services, health services, economic advisers, Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the media.

In addition to hearing speakers, the members of the Grand Jury visited a variety of sites, which added new dimensions to their understanding of City and County government.

1998-99 GRAND JURY COST EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS (Indictment v. Preliminary Hearing) (July 1, 1998 through May 31, 1999)
CASE No.	CRIME	No. Of Witnesses	No. PEOPLE INDICTED	No. GJ DAYS	DATE(s)	GJ COST $2,430 PER DAY	EST. MUNI COURT DAY(s)	DEFENSE ATTORNEYS			MUNI CT. COST @ $4809	MUNI CT. COST	ESTIMATED GJ SAVING
								NUMBER ATTORNEYS	HOURS WORKED	$75 PER HOUR
1	Weapons	1	1	1	7-9-98	2,430	1	1	8	600	4,809	5,409	2,979
2	Murder	6	1	1	7-15-98	2,430	2	1	16	1,200	9,618	10,818	8,388
3	Conspiracy/narcotics	16	15	4	7-22-98	9,720	40	15	4,800	360,000	192,360	552,360	542,640
4	Sexual assault	5	1	2	7-30-98	4,860	4	1	32	2,400	19,236	21,636	16,776
5	Murder	6	4	1	8-13-98	2,430	3	4	96	7,200	14,427	21,627	19,197
6	Stalking	15	2	4	8-24-98	9,720	8	2	128	9,600	38,472	48,072	47,152
7	Extortion	3	5	1	8-28-98	2,430	2	5	80	6,000	9,618	15,618	13,188
8	Robbery	14	1	2	9-22-98	2.430	1	1	8	600	4,809	5,409	2,979
9	Robbery	8	1	1	10-9-98	2,430	1	1	8	600	4,809	5,409	2,979
10	Attempted murder	15	1	3	10-21-98	7,290	5	1	40	3,000	24,045	27,045	19,755
11	Conspiracy/arson	71	7	7	10-29-98	17,010	15	7	840	63,000	72,135	135.135	118,125
12	Murder	14	5	2	11-17-98	4,860	5	5	200	15,000	24,045	39,045	34,185
13	Murder	5	1	1	11-18-98	2,430	2	1	16	1,200	9,618	10,818	8,388
14	Conspiracy/robbery	17	3	2	12-22-98	4,860	5	3	120	9,000	24,045	33,045	28,185
15	Robbery	4	4	1	1-4-99	2,430	2	4	64	4,800	9,618	14,418	11,988
16	Murder	8	4	2	1-13-99	4,860	3	4	96	7,200	14,427	21,627	16,767
17	Attempted murder	7	5	3	2-23-99	7,290	8	5	320	24,000	38,472	62,472	55,182
18	Murder	12	4	3	3-1-99	7,290	5	4	160	12,000	24,045	36,045	28,755
19	Assault	5	1	1	3-3-99	2,430	1	1	8	600	4,809	5,409	2,979
20	Conspiracy/narcotics	23	6	5	3-10-99	12,150	10	6	480	36,000	48,090	85,090	71,940
21	Conspiracy/narcotics	15	8	2	3-11-99	4,860	4	8	256	19,200	19,236	38,436	33,576
22	Firearms	3	1	1	3-16-99	2,430	1	1	8	600	4,809	5,409	2,979
23	Conspiracy	8	2	1	3-17-99	2,430	3	2	48	3,600	14,427	18,027	15,597
24	Narcotics	7	3	2	3-24-99	4,860	4	3	96	7,200	19,236	26,436	21,576
28	Conspiracy/narcotics	9	5	1	4-26-99	2,430	4	5	160	12,000	19,236	31,236	28,806
29	Welfare fraud	19	9	3	5-4-99	7,290	45	9	3,240	243,000	216,405	459,405	452,115
30	Terrorist threats	3	1	1	5-10-99	2,430	1	1	8	600	4,809	5,409	2,979
31	Robbery	34	5	3	5-13-99	7,290	10	5	400	30,000	48,090	78,090	70,800
32	Narcotics	6	2	2	5-27-99	4,860	2	2	32	1,200	9,618	10,818	5,958
	TOTALS:	429	121	75		184,680	244	121	13,520	1,012,800	1,173,396	2,186,196	2,001,516
LEGEND:* INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE ADMINISTRATIVELY UNIFIED COURTS FINANCIAL AND BUDGET UNIT

		County of Los Angeles GRAND JURY 13-300 Criminal Courts Building Los Angeles. CA 90012 (213) 974-3993 May 5, 1999

		The Honorable Board of Supervisors County of Los Angeles 383 Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration 500 West Temple Street Los Angeles, California 90012 Dear Supervisors: Final Report and Recommendation re Funding Requirements for Grand Jury Activities UNMET NEEDS FOR FISCAL YEAR 1999-2000 This report is to request the Board’s consideration for additional funding to complete critical tasks which have not been addressed in the Chief Administrative Officer’s Proposed 1999-2000 Budget, and which strongly affect the Grand Jury’s ability to fulfill its mandated government oversight function. Professional and Special Services – Contract Audits Cost: $100,000 Background In fulfilling its mandated civil function, the Grand Jury annually contracts for the professional services of an outside CPA firm as it performs its independent audits of the County, Cities, and Special Districts. Beginning in 1987, and particularly during the fiscal crisis of the 1990’s, the Grand Jury’s ability to adequately perform this function was significantly impaired through a succession of budget cuts. As the attached Table shows, the expenditure in 1986-87 for audits was $467,745. The budget this year is $177,000, a decrease of 62%, while the CPI has increased by 44.7%. Prior Grand Jury documents indicate that this curtailment resulted in a severe shortage of funds, as was noted in Grand Jury Final Reports in 93-94, 94-95 and 97-98. Impact of Budget Reductions This on-going budgetary reduction has resulted in the Grand Jury either limiting audits to one or two projects (as opposed to 4 or 5) or to scale back the scope of audits to the level of a PRELIMINARY REVIEW. For example, this year’s Grand Jury identified 4 topics of major significance which required a professional audit. The proposals for these audits came in at $300,000. The initial proposal for the single audit that we considered to be our most significant, and which has enormous potential cost saving to the County, came in at $166,000. If not scaled back, this audit alone would have consumed the entire budget. As a result, all 4 audits had to be scaled back to fit within the budget. Therefore, in some cases, the Grand Jury may only be able to identify areas in which a follow-up audit of wider scope will be required. Rather than providing solutions, the jury’s impact is reduced to identifying problem areas. This is not cost effective. Further, during the last decade, programs of the County and other governmental agencies suspected of operational deficiencies (based upon complaints by employees and residents) have remaine unaudited. Grand Jury audits independently and proactively attempt to identify and correct problems before they are eventually otherwise discovered and reported by outside State and Federal auditors. This early warning allows the governing body to take corrective action quickly to save scarce dollars and to avoid penalties by improving operations, implementing remedial procedures, and making needed personnel and other changes, as required. Current Request The Grand Jury requests an increase in the base budget from $177,000 to $277,000. This is still substantially lower than that available 10 years ago. However, it will go a long way toward meeting our mandated civil function. The 23 Grand Jurors work a full schedule on an essentially "volunteer" basis and want to be as effective as possible. The Grand Jury can only do this with sufficient, qualified, professional auditing help, made possible by adequate funding. Mandated Training Cost: $3,000 Background In 1997 the California State Legislature passed Assembly Bill 829 mandating that a grand jury that considers or takes action on civil matters receive training that addresses, at a minimum, report writing, conducting interviews, the scope of the grand jury’s responsibility and its statutory authority. There are currently no funds budgeted for this essential training. Current Request The Grand Jury requests an appropriation of $3,000 for this purpose. Respectfully submitted, (Signature) Jeanne L. Kennedy Foreperson

ANALYSIS OF GRAND JURY FUNDING
FOR SUPPORT SERVICES PROVIDED BY CONTRACT AUDITORS
Grand Jury			Los Angeles County					Grand Jury
			Total		Consumer	Consumer		1986-87 Audit
Fiscal	Audit	Percent	County	Percent	Price Index	Price Index		Expenditures
Year	Expenditures	Increase	Expenditures	Increase	LA Region	% Increase		Adjusted by CPI
1986-87	467,745		5,475,743,000		112.0
1987-88	351,669	-24.82%	5,740,241,000	4.83%	116.5	4.02%		486,538
1988-89	402,657	-13.92%	6,285,793,000	14.79%	122.1	9.02%		509,926
1989-90	361,640	-22.68%	6,891,656,000	25.86%	129.0	15.18%		538,742
1990-91	369,781	-20.94%	7,547,951,000	37.84%	135.6	21.07%		566,306
1991-92	240,443	-48.60%	9,352,879,000	70.81%	141.5	26.34%		590,946
1992-93	242,597	-48.13%	9,173,163,000	67.52%	146.7	30.98%		612,662
1993-94	260,999	-44.20%	9,862,655,000	80.12%	149.8	33.75%		625,609
1994-95	247,130	-47.17%	9,667,900,000	76.56%	151.7	35.45%		633,544
1995-96	131,095	-71.97%	9,826,879,000	79.46%	154.5	37.95%		645,238
1996-97	133,741	-71.41%	9,662,666,000	76.46%	157.6	40.71%		658,184
1997-98	171,036	-63.43%	11,976,000,000	118.71%	159.5	42.41%		666,119
1998-99	160,000 *	-65.79%	13,960,200,000	154.95%	162.1	44.73%		676,977
Notes:
(1) 1994-94 County Expenditures adjusted to exclude a one-time pension payment of $1,390,714,000.
(2) Grand Jury actual audit expenditures taken from the Auditor-Controller's year end expenditure status report by
minor object and organization. The FY 1998-99 amount is the approved budget.
(3) Consumer Price Index Data from the U.S. Department of Labor-Bureau of Labor Statistics as of July of each year.
(4) Total County expenditures as reported by the Auditor-Controller in the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
Amounts reported for FY 1997-98 and FY 1998-99 are approved budgets adopted by the Board of Supervisors.
* The 1998 - 1999 appropriation is $177,000. However, because we needed to hold some back for printing the Final Report, the actual expenditure this year will be $160,000, as the Table indicates Back to Table of Contents