LA City Council won’t rubber stamp mayor’s budget proposal, budget chair says
The Los Angeles City Council may share many of Mayor Karen Bass’ priorities, and while the budget it ends up adopting may look similar to what the mayor has proposed, the council won’t simply rubberstamp Bass’ proposed $13 billion spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year, either.
At least that’s the message that Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who chairs the council’s powerful budget committee, has emphasized as committee members have met in the past two weeks to discuss the mayor’s proposal.
Case in point: Bass has proposed ramping up Inside Safe, her signature program for bringing people living on the streets indoors, by asking for $250 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
That’s five times the amount she asked the City Council for in January to pilot the program. Blumenfield, in an interview Thursday, May 4, said it was one thing to grant $50 million initially to jumpstart Inside Safe. But now that the mayor and her administration have had more time to develop the program, the council would like to see more accountability — and have a greater say in how the money is spent.
For that reason, the budget committee instructed Sharon Tso, the city’s chief legislative analyst, to return to the committee next week to recommend how much of the $250 million should be released to the mayor’s office at the start of the new fiscal year and how much could be set aside in the budget’s “unappropriated balance” fund for future use.
Money designated for a specific department or office can be placed in the unappropriated balance category until the City Council has had time to consider policies related to the use of the money — or until a more comprehensive plan is developed for spending the money.
“We want to make sure (the mayor has) money that is fast and accessible and flexible” at the start of the fiscal year, Blumenfield said. “At the same time, we need accountability. We haven’t seen all the details on how the first $50 million was spent. … And moving forward, we want to have an expenditure plan and more of a partnership.”
That said, Blumenfield indicated that he believes Bass will ultimately get the $250 million she’s seeking for Inside Safe, as well as at least $1.3 billion overall – the amount the mayor has proposed – for services and programs to combat L.A.’s homelessness crisis.
Similarly, because it may be difficult to meet Bass’ goal of hiring hundreds more police officers in the next fiscal year, the budget committee is considering moving some of the money the mayor has proposed for the police department to the unappropriated balance fund.
That way, Blumenfield said, if the recruitment and hiring challenges that have hit the LAPD in recent years continue, the money in the unappropriated balance could be reallocated part way through the fiscal year to pay for staff overtime, officer hiring incentives or other department expenses.
Beyond funding for LAPD, budget committee members – as well as members of the public who have addressed the committee – have expressed strong interest in having the city invest more in unarmed crisis responses.
The City Council is looking at creating a new office of unarmed response that would be housed in the emergency management department, separate from the Office of Community Safety that the mayor has proposed through her office.
During recent budget hearings, some councilmembers and members of the public have asked for more funding for street medicine and therapeutic vans staffed by trained interventionists who could respond to a person having a mental health crisis, as opposed to an armed police officer.
“It is not a crime to be mentally ill. These people need help,” city resident Maya Mackey said during public comments this week.
Although homelessness and public safety have dominated much of the budget conversations, another area that some budget committee members this week signaled as a priority is funding to address climate change.
The city has a goal of transitioning to 100% renewable energy by 2035 and, over the past two weeks of budget hearings, committee members have stressed the importance of weaning off fossil fuel use and investing in electric vehicles.
“The existential threat of climate change needs to remain a focus even as we continue to prioritize everything else that we know needs to be handled now,” Councilmember Katy Yaroslavksy said.
With feedback from City Council budget committee members, the chief legislative analyst’s office will report back to the committee next week to recommend where money might be moved around in the proposed budget to accommodate councilmembers’ priorities and instructions.
The committee will next meet on Friday, May 12, for further review of the proposed budget before it is sent to the full council for consideration.