The Los Angeles City Council Monday was awaiting a response from Mayor Karen Bass on its revised $14 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2025-26, with the mayor facing a Friday deadline to make a decision.
Facing a roughly $1 billion deficit in the upcoming fiscal year, elected officials are on the verge of finalizing a spending plan that will address financial constraints and reduce proposed layoffs. Last week, the City Council gave its second and final approval of the budget, which was sent to Bass for her to either approve or veto the plan.
Under the City Charter, Bass has until Friday to submit her veto message to the City Council. If such a decision is taken, council members will have five days upon receipt of her message — excluding Saturdays and Sundays — to address the mayor’s action or any specific concerns.
The council could also override a mayoral veto, which would require yes votes by 10 of the 15 members.
The council voted 11 to 2 to advance the budget resolution last week, which reflects the changes they made to Bass’ initial proposal. Council members John Lee and Traci Park opposed the revised spending plan, while Nithya Raman and Monica Rodriguez were absent during the vote.
Bass initially called for 1,647 layoffs and the elimination of more than 1,000 vacant positions as part of a plan to address the deficit. To further reduce layoffs, city officials are considering the transfer of employees to proprietary departments such as the Department of Water and Power, airports and port — which are not funded by the general fund but rather through revenue generated by their operations.
While unionized city employees recognized the effort to reduce layoffs, some say the loss of positions would likely cause severe cuts to essential services and increase liabilities in the next fiscal year.
An estimated 647 city workers could still be cut, potentially complicating the operations of various departments such as civil rights and equity and youth development, among others.
Charles Leon, a regional coordinator for Service Employees International Union Local 721, previously stated the union is committed to working with the city on workforce development, in particular to address vacancy rates. He called for open discussions to improve service delivery and promote career opportunities for historically underserved communities.
“This discussion needs to start now — not at some better time in the unforeseeable future,” Leon said.
SEIU Local 721, which represents some city workers, is part of the Coalition of Los Angeles City Unions, including the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees 3090, Teamsters, Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 777, LA/OC Building Trades and others, who represent more than 10,000 city employees.
Key aspects of the revised spending plan include money for 240 new police officers over the coming year, down from 480 proposed by the mayor; and 58 new employees for the Los Angeles Fire Department, also a reduction from 227 proposed by Bass.
Overall, the police and fire departments are expected to receive a year-over-year increase in their operational budgets. Rodriguez, Park and Lee previously criticized the revised budget, citing concerns with the resources allocated toward public safety.
The council also reduced spending in Bass’ signature homelessness program, Inside Safe. But Rodriguez had said more money should have been shifted out due to the program’s lack of oversight and high cost.
Meanwhile, Councilman Tim McOsker said a lack of cost-cutting measures to the city’s public safety departments would have resulted in more layoffs and threats to core services such as street repairs, sanitation, street lighting and much more.
He reiterated that the council could have an opportunity to increase police hiring if the economic outlook improves.
The deficit is a result of overspending, costly liability payouts, lower tax revenues, labor contracts and fire recovery, among other challenges. The city is expected to cover $250 million due to labor agreements in 2025-26.
The city must adopt a new budget before the start of next fiscal year, which begins July 1.