Los Angeles city administrative officer Miguel Santana has revised his estimate of how much red ink the city takes on as it fails to slash its $212 million deficit: $350,000 a day instead of his earlier projection of $338,000.

That's according to a Q&A the budget maestro did with the Downtown News. He says the city has taken action by taking employees off the general fund budget and transferring them to “special fund positions.” But when all is said and done an additional 500 people will have to be laid off to meet a goal of cutting 1,000 employees from the general fund payrolls.

It's not clear, however, who will make those layoffs — the mayor, under an order he issued, or the council, which has so far balked at making personnel cuts. And, Santana warns, as another $485 million deficit looms in July, “this is just the beginning.”

“We're in a situation where we're going to have to engage in further reductions for the next fiscal year,” Santana tells the Downtown News.

(First spotted at LAObserved).

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