Los Angeles County Tuesday began holding its first-ever public departmental budget hearings, mandated through voters’ passage of the Measure G governance overhaul measure.
The ballot measure, approved in November, was a series of county charter amendments designed “to bring greater transparency and accountability to county government,” according to Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who championed the measure with fellow Supervisor Janice Hahn.
The measure also included the expansion of the Board of Supervisors from five to nine supervisors, the establishment of a Government Reform Task Force, an Ethics Commission and the conversion of the county CEO position to an elected post.
While some of those changes will not take effect for several years, the public department budget hearings got underway Tuesday.
“For the first time in L.A. County history, the public will be able to engage in open budget hearings,” Horvath said in a statement. “This is especially important as we make critical decisions on funding our recovery efforts, ensuring that resources are directed where they are needed most. Measure G was about making county government more transparent and accountable to the people it serves, and (Tuesday’s) hearings are an important step in delivering on that promise. I invite all Angelenos to participate and make their voices heard.”
Over the next few weeks, county department heads will present their budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year 2025-2026 to the board.
The county CEO office prepared a standardized three-page template for the department heads to present their requests, with some departments only expected to use two of those pages.
“Each of the three pages will have a different theme and purpose,” said CEO Fesia Davenport.
The first page will list requested items in priority order, the second page lists previous unmet needs in priority order and the third page is assigned for highlights on anticipated challenges as a result of the wildfires that started on Jan. 7.
“Although the budget requests will not include formal requests related to the fire, the fact that the departments have already started to assess and think about them means that we can prepare to address them in the future,” Davenport said.
She stressed that the impacts of the wildfires will extend to multiple budgets in the coming years, and compound some of the county’s long-standing and emerging budgetary pressures.
For the inaugural year, the county CEO developed a process and format for the presentations, but the Governance Reform Task Force will take over in ensuing years to refine the process.