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LWV League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Los Angeles County, CA March 5, 2013 Election
Smart Voter

Ankur Patel
Answers Questions

Candidate for
Controller; City of Los Angeles

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The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What is the single most important issue facing the Controller’s Office today, and how would you deal with it?

The most important issue facing the Controller's Office is a lack of public trust. As the elected official tasked with following the money, I would earn trust by opening up the City's books in an unprecedented way.

2. The Controller serves an important audit function. What departments or programs would you prioritize for auditing?

Out of the 37 departments funded by the City's General Fund, I would prioritize auditing the $131,000,000 Department of Transportation. More importantly, I would scrutinize the billion dollar proprietary departments of the Harbor, Airports, and Water and Power.

3. What management strategies would you implement to avoid payroll system problems in the future?

Our budget and payroll systems are currently paper-centric. By moving towards a primarily digital medium, we would be able to make the City's financial processes more transparent and accessible to the public, which would lead to greater efficiency through accountability.

4. Do you support the ballot measure to increase the sales tax in the city?

I am against increasing the sales tax because it is regressive. If I had confidence that my tax dollars were going to be spent efficiently I might consider it -- but that is why I am running for City Controller.

Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League. 

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: January 4, 2013 15:02
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