LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Former Assemblyman Mike Feuer will go head-to-head with incumbent Carmen Trutanich in a May runoff in the race for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, while termed-out Councilman Dennis Zine and businessman Ron Galperin will battle it out to become the next city controller.

Feuer led the four-candidate field in the city attorney race, but fell short of the 50 percent needed to claim the seat outright, while Trutanich made a strong enough showing to advance to the May 21 runoff. Prosecutor Greg Smith was a distant third, while attorney Noel Weiss trailed the pack.

Trutanich announced his reelection bid after failing to make the run-off in last year's race to replace Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley.

Prior to becoming city attorney, Trutanich was a county prosecutor.

He has cited his first-term work targeting graffiti vandals and polluters, going after neighborhood gangs with injunctions and fining Ralphs $43,000 for over-charging customers as reasons for bringing him back for a second and final term as city attorney.

Speaking to supporters at an election-night party on March 5 in Studio City, Trutanich said he was prepared for a runoff election. "The city attorney's race is (in May), let's not forget that," he said. "And so we need to just keep focused and stay positive, and we are."

Feuer, a former councilman, is looking to return to city government after serving three terms in the Assembly. He raised nearly $1 million and spent $1.2 million as of last Thursday, Feb. 28.

Feuer made a previous bid for city attorney in 2001 but lost to Rocky Delgadillo. He said his top priority is combating gun violence and cited his record of pushing through gun regulations at both the city and state levels.

Zine and Galperin were neckand- neck in the race for city controller -- a job left open by Wendy Greuel's bid for mayor -- but neither collected enough votes to avoid a runoff.

Zine has touted his efforts to safeguard the city's coffers, most recently by challenging the approval of $4 million in public relations contracts for outreach on LAX improvements.

Galperin, who sits on two city commissions, had the backing of former City Controller Laura Chick.

Candidates in the races for city attorney and city controller spent nearly $5 million to woo voters.

Spending in the four-person race for city attorney topped $3 million last week, while the controller candidates came close to $2 million, putting them among the most expensive non-mayoral races in the election, which also included contests in eight council districts.