国际英语新闻：Los Angeles' budget gap widens

LOS ANGELES, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Due to failure to collect money from the Department of Water and Power (DWP), Los Angeles' budget deficit has grown from 211.7 million to 222.4 million U.S. dollars this fiscal year, authorities said on Friday.

The Department of Water and Power was withholding 73.5 million that had been promised the city because the City Council recently declined to grant a desired electricity rate increase.

The budget gap has prompted the city to lay off employees, collect more in property taxes than expected, and dipping into emergency reserves.

As the budget crisis worsened, the city of Los Angeles will end this fiscal year on June 30 in the black, but with a minimum amount of cash available to deal with catastrophes, according to the city's Financial Status Report released on Friday.

Earlier this week, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proposed shutting down parks and libraries two days a week to cope with the budget gap. The city intends to balance the books by taking money out of its emergency reserve fund and by issuing bonds.