Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass released a budgetbombshell last year, stunning the city workforce by proposing widespread layoffs and other cuts in a bid to erase a $1-billion spending gap.
On Monday, in the midst of a tough reelection fight, Bass unveiled a much rosier $14.9-billion spending plan for 2026-2027 that — thanks in part to increased tax revenues — avoids layoffs and keeps many city service levels unchanged.
With six weeks until the June 2 city primary election, Bass is seeking to hire 510 officers at the Los Angeles Police Department, enough to cover the retirements and resignations that are expected in that agency, according to her budget team.
The mayor is also planning to retain the same number of firefighters, holding off on any expansion of the Fire Department at least until November, after voters have determined the fate of a sales tax hike to pay for the department’s operations.
The budget, which must be approved by the City Council, also preserves the same level of services delivered by Inside Safe, the mayor’s signature program to fight homelessness, her team said.
The mayor’s budget plan is benefiting from higher-than-expected business, property and sales tax revenues, both in the current budget year and the one that begins on July 1.
As a result, a few programs will see a significant boost.
Bass is looking to expand the installation of “curb cuts” — wheelchair ramps at intersections — while also spending more on the removal of trash from L.A. streets.
The hold-the-line budget comes as Bass faces four major challengers in the upcoming primary. Each has criticized her over the quality of city services and the cost of Inside Safe, which moves homeless Angelenos into expensive hotel and motel rooms.
Bass is looking to spend $104 million on Inside Safe in the upcoming year, her team said. They are expecting more than half of that amount will be reimbursed by Los Angeles County, which provides social services for the initiative.
The mayor has repeatedly defended the program, crediting it with a 17.5% reduction in “unsheltered homelessness” — the number of people living on the street or in their vehicles — over a two-year span.
Bass’ spending plan now heads to the council’s powerful Budget and Finance Committee, which is scheduled to spend several weeks reviewing it.
Last year, that committee dramatically reworked Bass’ budget, shifting cuts to other parts of the city workforce. The committee, and ultimately the council, cut the mayor’s LAPD hiring plan in half, taking the number of new officers from 480 to 240.
In January, the council reversed course and agreed to bump up the number of hires to 410.
Bass is likely to face pushback over her police hiring plan again this year. Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, in a newsletter sent Saturday to his constituents, said the council’s decision to continue hiring was “fiscally irresponsible.”
“The city is now paying the price,” he said.
Bass has spent the last three years attempting to halt the decline in sworn officer staffing at the LAPD, which has been hovering around 8,700, down from about 10,000 in 2020. Even if the council approves her hiring plan, the department is expected to dip to about 8,555 officers by summer 2027.
According to the mayor’s budget team, Bass is also looking to:
- Spend about $36 million on sidewalk repairs — a modest increase compared with the current year — as part of a legal settlement requiring the city to make its walkways wheelchair accessible;
- Retain 500 crossing guards;
- Keep animal shelter operations unchanged;
- And put $1 million into RepresentLA, which provides funding for lawyers to represent immigrants facing federal enforcement actions.
That last item was the subject of controversy last year, with Bass proposing a budget that eliminated funding for RepresentLA.
Weeks later, council members put $1 million for the program into the budget. They added more funding later in the year.
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