LOS ANGELES — Today, Los Angeles City Council Budget & Finance Committee Chair Katy Yaroslavsky delivered opening remarks as the City Council began formal deliberations on the City of Los Angeles Budget as revised by the Budget and Finance Committee. In her remarks, Yaroslavsky acknowledged the difficult choices ahead and called on the City to use this moment to rebuild a leaner, smarter, and more effective government that protects essential services and invests in long-term solutions. She emphasized that the revised budget “is disciplined, collaborative, and strengthens the delivery of core services,” while putting Los Angeles on a path toward fiscal solvency.
Her remarks followed four weeks of deliberations over the Mayor’s proposed budget, which was released on April 21, 2025.
Watch her full remarks here (at beginning of meeting)
Read the full transcript below.
Thank you, Council president.
Colleagues, before us is a revised budget proposal that is balanced, protects core services from being decimated, and keeps 1,000 city workers in their jobs serving the people of Los Angeles.
This is the most serious budget crisis the City has seen in nearly two decades. We all know this, but I want to begin today by grounding us in that reality.
It is easy to get lost in the details and lose sight of the magnitude of the crisis we are in. It is very real. And so too are the consequences if we fail to meet this moment. We have to face this challenge responsibly by staying focused on what matters most.
That was our goal in committee, and I hope we carry that with us today.
A month ago, we were faced with a proposed budget that eliminated funding to keep our streets clean, reduced the number of sidewalk repairs by 30 percent, cut street resurfacing by nearly half, cut more than 400 civilians in LAPD who process DNA rape kits, perform fingerprint analysis, and serve as crime scene photographers. The backlog to repair street lights could have stretched to two years.
These are the basic, everyday services that people rely on, and we cannot afford to eliminate them, even in a tough budget year.
The good news is that we don’t have to.
The revised budget restores these services, ensuring we can: clean our streets, trim trees, fix more sidewalks and streetlights, and make streets more safe.
The revised budget also includes targeted public safety investments: a $50 million year over year increase for the Fire Department and a $15 million year over year increase for the Police Department.
After the January fires, we heard clearly from LAFD that they lack the resources to meet emergency fire response needs. They also identified payroll system upgrades as a top operational priority to make sure they’re paid on time and accurately.
This budget funds both.
Including $80 million for new fire trucks and helicopters, upgraded equipment, faster repairs, and $1.5 million for payroll software to ensure they are paid well, and on time.
This is not everything they deserve, and I’ll be the first to say that. But in a year with a very limited number of new investments, it is a meaningful and responsible step forward and one I hope we will continue to build on in the coming years.
The proposal also shifts resources within LAPD to restore over 150 civilian positions. These specialized roles support investigations and crime scene work. They cannot be filled by sworn officers.
We saved these roles by making the difficult choice to slow the pace of new academy classes.
That decision was not made lightly. It is one of my – and many of your – top priorities for restoration if funds become available, and I hope to work with others – including labor – who share that goal.
On homelessness, this budget reduces spending on Inside Safe by 10 percent and moves over half of interim housing dollars into the unappropriated balance. With the County’s decision to withdraw funds from LAHSA and our ongoing settlement obligations, this allows for additional oversight, flexibility, and continued improvements to maximize the impact of every dollar we spend.
To get there, this budget also takes steps to establish a bureau for homelessness oversight, which is a cost-neutral effort to centralize program management and data collection. Across a number of areas like this one, the committee chose not to establish new departments especially where new spending would be required. Instead, we looked to where bringing functions together could yield more efficient results. We now defer to the policy committees to shape these efforts.
All of us want to grow the essential services and investments that keep our communities safe and thriving. But we are working within serious constraints, and we cannot do everything. None of us could possibly come close to getting everything we want in this budget – but we all get SOME of what we asked for. Whether it was restoring CARE+ teams or specialized LAPD civilians, or ensuring all our animal shelters are open, this revised proposal keeps us moving in the right direction.
There are still priorities many of us hope to see: public safety investments, homelessness accountability and funding, and a fully staffed workforce.
I share those goals. In many ways, this budget is not the end of the conversation. It is the start.
Additional restorations may be possible if our labor partners come to the table to negotiate. I hope they do. I know we would welcome it.
More than 70 percent of the City’s budget goes to people - our city staff - and many of the cost-of-living increases built into this year’s budget were negotiated when our economic outlook was stronger. Even modest adjustments could allow us to preserve more jobs and restore critical positions—including the remaining 250 LAPD civilian roles — AND potentially larger police recruitment classes.
But either way, this proposal before us today keeps the city running. It is a bare-bones budget that puts us on a path toward fiscal solvency.
I want to close by thanking our amazing CLA and her team, our CAO and his team, Mayor Bass and her team, my fellow Budget & Finance Committee members, and our respective staffs for leading a transparent and collaborative process centered on the needs of our constituents.
We took more than thirteen hours of public comment. We heard from every department about how this budget would impact how they serve this City. We read every letter and every proposal submitted by you all. And we invited Councilmember Lee and Councilmember Raman, as chairs of the Public Safety and Housing and Homelessness Committees, to join us during our hearings. Their perspectives helped strengthen this proposal.
We worked together to reflect all of these priorities in the revised budget before us today. We cannot fund NEW programs or new staff at the cost of laying off our hardworking street repair crews, community planners, or traffic enforcement officers. And you have my commitment that this work will continue after today - that the Budget & Finance Committee will fight to restore and fund those priorities that we all share for a safer, well-run, and responsive city.
This revised proposal is disciplined, collaborative, and meets our essential needs. What we propose strengthens the delivery of core services, starts to address our structural imbalances, and puts us on a path toward fiscal solvency.
Colleagues, I ask for your vote.
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