City of Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia warned residents “LA is going broke,” noting the city has spent half its reserves in the past year. In April, the city faced a $476 million deficit, leading to major cuts to Mayor Karen Bass’s signature homeless-in-hotels “Inside Safe” program. However, concerns with rising crime also led to an increase in the police budget, a funding expansion Meija has strongly opposed.
“Just one year ago, the reserve fund was historically strong, at $648 million,” said Mejia on X. “Less than three months into this fiscal year, the city is again dipping into its reserves to pay for liability claims (already $170M over budget). It’s getting close to going below the 2.75% mark which when that happens, City Council must make a finding of a fiscal emergency”
Last month, the City of Los Angeles agreed to pay a $38 million settlement to the federal government for not making enough of its federally funded “affordable” apartments accessible for people with mobility, visual, and auditory impairments.
“The City needs honest budgeting: not inflated revenue projections, under-budgeting liability claims, & wishful thinking that civilian departments (whose budgets have been cut) can make do with barebones budgets while LAPD can routinely overspend without any spending controls,” continued Mejia on the city’s finances.