THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE:

The pump is primed for a vigorous debate of city employee salaries, benefits, retirement packages and overtime pay in Costa Mesa.

City Council members just received a 3-inch-thick report breaking down the city’s payroll expenses department by department, employee by employee, and hour by hour.

The information was requested a few months ago by Mayor Allan Mansoor and Councilman Gary Monahan, who said that the city’s contracts with its employees were the proverbial elephant in the room when it came to the budget because pay and benefits account for 85% of the city’s operating budget.

Now that the information has been requested, the discussion can begin. The council plans to officially start at Tuesday’s closed session (which, as noted in the name, will not be open to the public).

“We need to start looking at how we are going to deal with these deficits because it’s not just going to be one year,” Monahan said.

After the closed session, members anticipate a series of talks with the unions that represent employees in the various city departments — police, fire, staff — to determine how contracts may be amended to save money.

Similar actions have already been taken at various levels of government as budget shortfalls have plagued the state, county and municipal bodies.

Councilwoman Katrina Foley says that the city is already running with tight staffing, though, and she’s not sure how more cuts could be made.

“We’re not overstaffed in any department in any way whatsoever. In my opinion, if anything, we’re understaffed,” Foley said.

BATES REPLACES MOORLACH

Local supervisor John Moorlach stepped down as the chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors at Tuesday’s meeting, passing the gavel to Supervisor Patricia Bates.

The position usually rotates among the members of the committee and is somewhat of a ceremonial one. The person who holds it conducts the meetings and as the leader of the body often gets the most media attention.

Recently Moorlach has been in the state and national spotlights because of the county’s proposals to lay off workers and put others on unpaid furloughs in order to save money.

CAMPBELL PUSHES BILL

An outspoken critic of pork-barrel spending, U.S. Rep. John Campbell has written a bill that would effectively abolish the United States House Committee on Appropriations.

One of the most powerful committees in the House of Representatives, the body oversees the federal government’s purse strings.

House Resolution 17 would give each committee in the House the power to appropriate money for its own needs.

The House Committee on the Budget would oversee the process.

“This bill wholeheartedly acknowledges that an egregious amount of overspending, waste, fraud and abuse exists within both parties throughout the spending process which is shepherded by the Appropriations Committee,” Campbell wrote in a commentary on Flashreport.org, a conservative blogging website.

“The House of Representatives invests its spending power in the 25 individuals of this spending panel, whose sole purpose it is to spend the taxpayers’ money; and they do a damn good job at it, and if you ask me, too good.

“There is no doubt; many Members of Congress have been tempted by the enormous power of spending $3 trillion per year of someone else’s money.”

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com. BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.