Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass released a budget bomb last year, shocking the city’s workforce by proposing sweeping layoffs and other cuts to close a $1 billion spending gap.
On Monday, amid a tough re-election battle, Bass unveiled a $14.9 billion spending plan for 2026-2027 that — thanks to increased tax revenues — avoids layoffs and keeps many city service levels unchanged.
With six weeks left until the June 2 city primary election, Bass wants to hire 510 officers to the Los Angeles Police Department, according to her budget team, enough to cover expected retirements and resignations at that agency.
The mayor plans to maintain the same number of firefighters, putting off any expansion of the fire department until at least November, after voters determine the fate of a sales tax increase to pay for the department’s operations.
His team said the budget, which must be approved by the City Council, also preserves the same level of services provided by Inside SAFE, the mayor’s signature program to fight homelessness.
The mayor’s budget plan is benefiting from higher-than-expected business, property and sales tax revenues in both the current budget year and the budget year that begins July 1.
As a result, some programs will see significant growth.
Bass is considering expanding the installation of “curb cuts” – wheelchair ramps at intersections – as well as spending more on removing trash from L.A. streets.
The hold-the-line budget comes as Bass faces four major challenges in the upcoming primary. Each has criticized the quality of the city’s services and the cost of Inside Safe, which shuttles homeless Angelenos into expensive hotel and motel rooms.
Bass is looking to spend $104 million on Inside Safe in the coming year, his team said. They are hoping that more than half the amount will be reimbursed by Los Angeles County, which provides social services for the initiative.
The mayor has repeatedly defended the program, and has credited 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 period.
Bass’s spending plan now heads to the council’s powerful Budget and Finance Committee, which is due to spend several weeks reviewing it.
Last year, that committee dramatically reworked Bass’s budget, shifting cuts to other parts of the city’s workforce. The committee and ultimately the council cut the mayor’s LAPD hiring plan in half, reducing the number of new officers from 480 to 240.
In January, the council reversed its position and agreed to increase the number of appointments to 410.
Bais may face opposition again this year over his police recruitment plan. Council member Hugo Soto-Martinez said in a newsletter sent to his constituents Saturday that the council’s decision to continue the appointment was “fiscally irresponsible.”
“The city is now paying the price for it,” he said.
Bass has spent the past three years attempting to stem the decline in the number of sworn officer staff at the LAPD, which has hovered around 8,700, down from about 10,000 in 2020. Even if the council approves their hiring plan, the department is expected to be reduced to approximately 8,555 officers by the summer of 2027.
According to the mayor’s budget team, Bass is also considering the following:
- Spend approximately $36 million on sidewalk repairs – a slight increase over the current year – as part of a legal settlement that requires the city to make its walkways wheelchair accessible;
- hire 500 crossing guards;
- Keep animal shelter operations unchanged;
- And inject $1 million into RepresentLA, which provides funding to lawyers representing immigrants facing federal enforcement actions.
That last item was the subject of controversy last year, in which Bass proposed a budget that eliminated funding for RepresentLA.
A few weeks later, council members put $1 million into the budget for the program. They added more funding at the end of the year.
