First look at the 2024-25 Los Angeles County’s budget. What you need to know

 In the next few weeks, hearings and deliberations for the 2024-25 Los Angeles County budget will begin. On April 22, Fesia Davenport, the county’s Chief Executive Officer since 2021, unveiled the $45.4 billion proposed budget, revealing a significant cut and lowered budget compared to the current fiscal year. The $1.4 billion cutback is alarming, as the county is the largest municipal government in the nation, with more residents than most states. 

The county budget process is a complicated one. It begins in January when county departments submit their county proposals to Davenport and her office, and she then evaluates those proposals and makes recommendations to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors before the hearings and deliberations begin in May and June, where residents, community advocates and social justice organizations voice their opinions on the proposed budget. Most of the county’s budget comes from the federal government, state government and locally generated revenue, like consumer and property taxes. 

“This recommended budget represents a balanced plan for the county’s future in the face of multiple uncertainties,” Davenport said. “It invests our limited discretionary resources in the Board’s highest priority programs, emphasizes services that our communities need and embraces innovations like the Breathe guaranteed income program—all while maintaining the strength of the county’s social safety net.”

However, the county’s final budget is expected to increase more than the $45.4 billion determined in the proposed budget. 

According to Davenport, this year’s budget difference is due primarily to the county’s Auditor-Controller not yet completing the “closing of the books,” which determines the closing balances from unspent funds for this fiscal year. In August, the county usually knows how much of the fiscal year-end surplus or money is left and is then included in the final adopted budget presented in October.  

What’s included?

The proposed budget allocates 835 new budgeted county positions, including:

•  452 positions within the Department of Mental Health (DMH) 

• 122 positions to support various programs within the Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) 

• 48 positions within the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) 

• 40 positions for clinicians and support staff for the Department of Health Services (DHS) to fill various roles in the county’s hospital and clinic system 

• 29 positions in the Department of Justice (DOJ) 

• 13 positions to support caseload increases and address National Association of Medical Examiners accreditation deficiencies.

Mental health department gets a boost

Supervisor Janice Hahn, the board’s chair, said the 452 new positions being proposed for the Department of Mental Health help make the budget proposal "the single biggest investment in our mental health care system since I joined the board eight years ago." 

"It means we will be able to speed up response times to mental health crises calls, send more mental health experts into the field to work directly with people struggling on our streets and bring them inside, and perhaps most importantly, it will allow us to create more permanent supportive housing so that we can get people the treatment and support they need to stay housed," Hahn said

Certain measures are also allocated in the proposed budget. One of these is Measure J, known as   Care First, Jails Last, which aims to support direct communities with youth development, job training, small business development, supportive housing services and other alternatives to incarceration. The proposed budget allocates $300.6 million, equal to 10% of ongoing locally generated unrestricted revenues for Measure J. 

Homelessness

Measure H, Homeless Services and Housing, reflects $728.2 million in this year’s proposed budget. Measure H is the county’s multi-layered approach to combating homelessness. The $728.2 million will help hire more frontline staff, such as outreach workers, housing navigators, mental health clinicians and substance use counselors and ultimately build more interim and permanent housing for homeless Angelenos. 

There is also $95.6 million proposed to assist foster families, prospective adoptive parents and relatives who foster family members. 

Regarding state-wide programs, $81.1 million is expected to be allocated to replace EBT benefits for victims of card theft by scammers acting statewide. In addition, $17.4 million is expected to provide additional support for CalFresh to support individuals and families in need of food benefits.

Cybersecurity is also funded and listed in the proposed budget. $6.1 million would go to protecting and preventing growing threats against the county’s information technology infrastructure and reducing cybersecurity risks.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the 5th supervisorial district of L.A. County that borders  Ventura, Kern and San Bernardino counties,  expressed her contentment to see the continued investments in homelessness and mental health services. 

"We will be ready to hire and deploy a new army of mental health clinicians, substance abuse counselors, outreach workers and compassionate housing navigators equipped to help those experiencing homelessness to get housed and connected to supportive services that will keep them housed," she said in a statement.

Following the release of the proposed budget, the Immigrants Are LA (IRLA), an immigrant coalition made up of approximately 100 grassroots immigrant organizations, reaffirmed their commitment to making sure the county’s final budget represents the needs and priorities of immigrants, which make up more than 30% of the L.A. County population. 

Last month, IRLA presented the coalition budget priorities in a formal letter to supervisors. 

“We strongly believe that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors must view the budget as a moral document that reflects the values and priorities of immigrants. We strive to enhance services for immigrants who are routinely excluded from federally and state-funded programs due to their immigration status,“ the letter read.

Some of the IRLA's recommendations for the budget, all of which they hope the county considers, are to create a language access community consultation group to ensure it can effectively address the most pressing needs of the immigrants that it aims to serve by expediting contracts with community organizations for translation and interpretation. They also demand that the board dedicate more Office of Immigrant Affairs staff, as well as invest and help expedite the launch of a centralized language services hub for L.A. County. 

“Immigrants make up 34 percent of Los Angeles County’s population,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). “We contribute $30.1 billion in annual taxes and have a spending power of $79.7 billion, but continue to be an afterthought when it comes to housing. This county must step up with inclusive budget policies that create equitable access for immigrants regardless of immigration status. There are not enough transitional or permanent housing solutions for immigrants, and homeless shelters lack the infrastructure to provide adequate case management. Los Angeles County must represent the most vulnerable members of our community, especially in allocating local dollars toward projects that purport to fix the housing crisis.”

Working and investing money to eliminate wage theft is also one of IRLA’s budget priorities. IRLA would like the budget to reflect allocations to help establish a Worker Justice Fund to support all workers experiencing wage theft and retaliation. 

According to IRLA, in partnership with the City of L.A., the county should implement a restitution fund to help low-income workers awaiting judgments and collections for cases filed with the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. Additionally, they recommend including a budget allocation for outreach to raise awareness among Los Angeles workers about the fund. 

“The immigrants who are one-third of LA County’s population are often stopped at the door when it comes to getting county services for which they often qualify, because they do not speak, read or understand the language in which these services are made available,” said Francisco Moreno, executive director of the Council of Mexican Federations in North America (COFEM). “The literacy gap can extend to platforms with which immigrants don’t feel comfortable, including digital, making for a double barrier. To ensure the county’s success in rolling out a language access policy, immigrants must be involved in crafting it.”

County officials are expected to organize a series of public hearings on the budget proposal, beginning on May 15. The board will adopt the budget before the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. Additional adjustments, however, will likely be made following that date, with a final adoption anticipated on October 8, 2024.