A proposed $8.75 billion spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year goes before the City Council for approval Thursday, following nearly two weeks of committee hearings.
The Budget and Finance Committee’s recommended revisions to the mayor’s budget proposal include added funding for the police department for civilian employees, recruitment and its human trafficking and prostitution detail.
The panel also recommended more funding for graffiti abatement, fee subsidies for the city’s mandatory earthquake retrofitting program, increased staffing in the park ranger program and restoring funding for a day laborer program.
The spending plan for fiscal 2016-17, which begins July 1, also includes $138 million that Mayor Eric Garcetti proposed for addressing homelessness. Nearly half of that money — about $64.7 million — would come from the general fund, plus $6.4 million from special accounts.
The rest of the budget for homelessness would come from charging development fees on projects — potentially generating $20 million — and by selling off city-owned properties or converting them into affordable housing to come up with $47 million. The policies needed to generate those funds have yet to be debated by the City Council.
—City News Service