L.A. County officials Monday offered their first look at the $47.9 billion budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
The county’s Board of Supervisors is scheduled Tuesday to have the first of several discussions for the 2025-26 spending plan, which includes spending cuts to help offset more than $1 billion in costs for the January wildfires, according to a statement Monday.
The budget “reflects rapidly mounting financial challenges,” according to the statement from county CEO Fesia Davenport, including the potential loss of hundreds of millions in federal funding cuts and a $4 billion settlement for decades-old childhood sexual-assault claims.
“We are in uncharted territory with these simultaneous pressures on our budget,” said Davenport, who is presenting the plan Tuesday. “Any of these alone would be daunting, but taken together these challenges — the wildfires, the (Assembly Bill) 218 settlement, the threat of deep cuts in federal funding — are cause for great concern.”
Adding to the list of crises, the county is facing slower property tax revenue growth due in part to declining home sales amid higher interest rates, and filming, a multibillion-dollar industry, has recently taken a huge hit.
Due to these concerns, county departments are making 3% cuts in their budgets, according to officials.
These targeted cuts total $88.9 million and include eliminating 310 vacancies and more than $50 million in savings from cutting supplies, delaying equipment purchases and reducing the scope of some programs.
No layoffs are anticipated at this time. In fact, if approved, the plan will add 14 net new positions for a total of 117,100 budgeted positions in the county workforce, according to a news release from the county.
Some of the highlights mentioned in the release included $287.7 million for Care First and Community Investment, which is part of the county’s Care First, Jails Last vision. The total CFCI funding available for investment in communities and alternatives to incarceration is $571.6 million, including one-time unspent funds from previous years.
The voter-approved measure to remake the county government with an expanded Board of Supervisors, an elected executive, and the creation of a new Ethics Commission got an $11.9 million boost. The budget allocates funding for the Governance Reform Task Force that will guide Measure G efforts, and also dedicates ongoing funds to support the operations of the Ethics Commission and the Office of Ethics Compliance when they are established in 2026.
More information can be found at: ceo.lacounty.gov/budget.
