City Controller Wendy Greuel’s most recent audit of L.A.’s billing and collection practices told a story that is all too familiar to the Valley Industry and Commerce Association. The report found that the city only has a 53 percent collection rate, receiving just $293 million of the $553 million billed in fiscal year 2008-09 for the departments surveyed.

The collection rate recorded in Greuel’s audit is only a 1 percent improvement from the 2007 audit performed by then-Controller Laura Chick. When it was brought to VICA’s attention how much money the city was leaving on the table in uncollected debt we began working with Chick and Greuel (while in her capacity as a City Council member) to make changes in the city’s debt collection practices.

VICA’s recommendations were part of a larger set of ideas for revenue generation and budget cuts, known as the VICA 50. To improve collections and billing, VICA proposed a collections sheriff to hold departments accountable and oversee collections activities.

Since VICA’s suggestion of a collections sheriff more than two years ago, the city has been slow to act on implementing any kind of meaningful change to its collections practices. VICA diligently met with council members, working to see that a motion was presented that would consider the feasibility and implementation requirements for a collections sheriff.

The motion passed the Budget and Finance Committee in October 2008 and still – nearly two years later – has yet to go before the full City Council. The disappointing fate of the collections sheriff is similar to that of all the other motions related to improving collections practices – briefly considered, then forgotten.

The fact that the collection rate has only slightly improved – from 52 percent to 53 percent since the original audit in 2007 – demonstrates the city’s lack of commitment to find real and sustainable solutions to its budget problems. Simply improving its collections activities could add millions to city coffers and reduce the budget gap.

In the business community, we know that the appearance of action is not the same things as results. We know that the bottom line is what matters, and the city’s current bottom line is inexcusable. The dismal 53 percent collection rate must be improved.

Greuel’s audit found the two areas that see the most uncollected funds are parking citations and Emergency Management Services billing accounts. The city is only collecting 53 percent of the money owed for parking citations and 38 percent for EMS, according to Greuel’s audit. It also showed that the Police Commission and Fire Department are slow to refer delinquent accounts to the Office of Finance or outside collections agencies.

As concerning as this information is, the real troubling part is that it is not new information. These are the same problems that were found in the 2007 audit and they continue to occur. Motions and recommendations are plenty, but real action and solutions are nonexistent.

If a business (especially one the size of Los Angeles) collects just half of the debt it is owed, it will not stay in business for long. Such poor management of something that can so easily be fixed speaks volumes about the city’s current fiscal status and priorities.

There are clear and simple steps that can be taken to improve the city’s billing and collections practices. Uncollected debt is often referred to as low-hanging fruit, because it takes such little effort and energy to get it. The city’s uncollected debts are ripe, low and ready for the picking. During the time that has been wasted discussing and debating ways to improve collections activities, the city could have already reaped benefits had the ideas just been implemented.

The city threatens to raise taxes on businesses and cut vital services to its citizens without making any notable effort to collect hundreds of millions in owed debt. We are told there are no other options, yet millions of dollars in debt remains uncollected. This is not acceptable to VICA, and it should not be to the business community which continues to be encumbered with the financial burden of the city’s bad decisions.

Daymond Rice is the chairman of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, a business advocacy organization that represents employers in the Los Angeles County region.