Los Angeles County CEO Fethia Davenport. He introduced the staff’s recommended 2025 budget on Monday, April 22, 2024. The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider the interim budget at its Tuesday, April meeting. A budget hearing is scheduled for May 15, 2024, with further consideration and possible adoption on June 24. Final adoption is expected in October. (Provided photo)
Los Angeles County will spend about $45.4 billion next fiscal year, according to a preliminary budget recommended by county CEO Fethia Davenport released on Monday, April 22nd, which is lower than the budget finalized last year. About $1.4 billion less.
However, the county will add 835 new positions in the 2024-2025 fiscal year budget, bringing the county’s total number of jobs to 116,159, Davenport reported. The new position is funded almost entirely by federal and state funds.
The county budget includes approximately $390.2 million in new revenue, primarily due to economic growth driven by increased consumer spending, a strong job market, and investment market optimism related to artificial intelligence technology. This is due to a 2.5% expansion in the 2020s, Davenport wrote in the letter. Oversight Committee.
However, Davenport cautioned that uncertainty in the real estate market could reduce future property tax revenues.
“These additional funds are needed to fund significant wage and benefit increases for county workers,” Davenport reported.
The budget includes $728 million to combat homelessness by removing encampments and moving them off the streets and into temporary and permanent housing. This budget increases the housing quota by 23%. Transitional housing beds decreased by 17%. 65% reduction in permanent housing subsidies. Wraparound services for 27,500 people living in permanent housing increased by 21%. and a 25% increase in permanent housing assistance for people in the private rental market.
In 2023, the county will work with cities and nonprofit partners to bring 38,000 people indoors and double the number of mental health support teams. The county has set a goal of clearing one encampment every two weeks this fiscal year, but is relying on support from cities, including Los Angeles.
“We can’t do it alone. Local cities must do their part,” Davenport said during a virtual briefing for reporters Monday. The county received $51 million from Gov. Gavin Newsom to combat homeless encampments.
Part of the homelessness problem is that, according to some studies, about 50 percent of homeless people in the county have some form of mental illness. To address this, the county is hiring more mental health physicians.
More than half of the new jobs included in the budget are for county mental health department positions. DMH plans to add 452 positions, including staff who will run mental health clinics and help unincarcerated people connect with mental health counselors and services, Davenport said.
Other departments adding positions to the budget include the Department of Public and Social Services (122); Department of Public Health (52); and Department of Children and Family Services (48).
He said the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will be adding 17,544 jobs at a cost of about $4 billion, with the department gaining a net total of 24 new positions.
Additionally, the budget includes $300 million for the Board of Supervisors’ commitment to “care first, prison last” priorities for incarceration diversion programs, including an unrestricted amount of locally generated revenue currently underway. (approximately 10% of the population), Davenport reported. That amount exceeds the amount allocated to the public defender, district attorney and about 30 other county departments, she reported.
New programs or program enhancements funded in Budget 2025 include:
• Establishment of a new Sexual Violence Council to support survivors of sexual violence and develop policies to help prevent sexual violence.
• Allocates $7.5 million in tobacco settlement funds to the Department of Public Health to address the rise in sexually transmitted diseases.
• Approximately $2.4 million in additional funding will expand the Guaranteed Income Program for 2 years to 200 transition-age youth. Each earns a monthly income of $1,000.
Revenue concerns include the unknown outcome of the Child Victims Act, which extends the statute of limitations for abuse cases and could spark lawsuits dating back to the 1980s. The settlement could result in large claims against the county from anyone who can prove they were harmed while at county facilities.
Although not included in the budget, Davenport’s letter to regulators estimates that total debt could exceed $3 billion. “We really don’t know what’s going to happen until these lawsuits are decided,” Davenport said.
He said settlements involving the county jail system could result in additional costs for the county.
This is the first step in the county’s budgeting process. The proposed budget will be presented to the board on Tuesday, with a public hearing scheduled for May 15.
The board is scheduled to consider and vote on June 24 on the final budget for the fiscal year, which begins July 1 and runs through June 30, 2025. Final budget revisions will be made in October.
