An audit by City Controller Wendy Greuel expected to be released today found that the city departments examined only collected 53 percent of the money they were owned for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.

Put another way, the departments billed $553.4 million but took in only $293 million of that at a time when the city is set to lay off a few hundred workers beginning Thursday for a savings of $24 million. The worst offenders when it comes to gettin' paid … ?

… The Department of Transportation (and its backlog of parking tickets that need to be paid) and the Emergency Management Services. The DOT collected only 53 percent of what it's owed; Emergency Management only took 38 percent of outstanding payments, according to a statement from Greuel's office.

The audit is a follow-up to a similar inquiry in 2007. Guess what? Recommended fixes from back then still haven't taken effect.

“With the City facing a multi-million dollar long-term budget deficit, the controller believes that it is critical that every dollar owed to the city is collected in a timely manner,” Greuel's office stated.

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