The latest blow to a budget struggling financially is the impending agreement between Los Angeles County and its largest labor union, which is predicted to cost slightly more than $2 billion over three years.
More belt-tightening will be required for a government that is running out of options, according to the cost estimate that the county chief executive office gave to The Times on Monday.
The county is anticipated to lose $2 billion as a result of the catastrophic wildfires in January. The county’s public health budget would be severely impacted by the cuts that the Trump administration has threatened. The largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history, totaling $4 billion, was agreed to by L.A. County supervisors this year. To help pay for the settlement, most agencies had to make 3% cuts.
As she presented the supervisors with the most recent iteration of the county’s expansive $49 billion budget on Monday, Chief Executive Fesia Davenport cautioned them that the cuts are not yet complete.
Funding for parks, swimming pools, and violence prevention, among other programs, is reduced by $50.5 million in the revised budget to cover salary increases and bonuses for county employees in the tentative labor agreement. According to Davenport, whose office prepares the budget and handles labor agreements, each department will soon have to make an additional 5.5% cut.
“We have no other option, so we are taking this extraordinary step,” she stated.
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The majority of the approximately 7,000 claims in the settlement relate to alleged abuse that occurred during the 1980s and 2000s.
The planned budget, which included a first wave of cuts to cover some of the anticipated labor expenses and the multibillion-dollar sex abuse settlement, was unanimously approved by the supervisors on Monday.
The supervisors voted unanimously in favor of the plan, although they didn’t say much positive about it on Monday.
Supervisor Hilda Solis stated that although the budget may appear to be in good shape, it is actually a sick patient.
Two probation offices are anticipated to close as a result of the cuts. Swimming pools in the county will close earlier. Two days a week will henceforth be the closure of regional parks.
Supervisor Holly Mitchell made note of a petition she had seen on Nextdoor that morning opposing the two-day-per-week closure of Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area in her district, saying, “Like every other Angeleno, I’m mad too.”
A tentative agreement between the county and SEIU 721, which represents 55,000 county employees, was announced last week. A $5,000 incentive is included in the first year of the agreement, which still needs to be approved by the supervisors and union members. In the second year, there will be a $2,000 bonus and a 2% cost of living adjustment, and in the third year, there will be a 5% pay raise.
16 smaller unions are negotiating with the county. The $2.1 billion price tag is predicated on the assumption that other unions will implement bonuses and pay increases comparable to those of SEIU 721.
According to the chief executive office, the county would take $778 million out of its general fund to cover the new labor expenses. Federal and state funding intended for staffing expenses will provide the remaining $1.2 billion or more.
After months of talks and a two-day walkout this spring, SEIU 721’s head, David Green, said his members were overjoyed with the tentative contract.
33,000 union employees were covered by contracts the city of Los Angeles agreed to last year, with many of them receiving salary increases of 24% over the following five years. The contracts contributed to a significant budget deficit that the City Council filled with layoffs and other spending reductions, with the city estimating that the contracts would increase costs by $3.5 billion over five years.
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Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson promised to find the money to hire an additional 240 LAPD officers over the course of the following year, Bass stated after signing the municipal budget.
Comparing the two was like comparing apples and oranges, according to Green, who bargained with both the county and the city.
According to him, there are numerous ways in which the economic situation has deteriorated. I believe you experienced some of that during the L.A. county bargaining process.
Although they were quick to point out the broader financial picture, county supervisors seemed to approve the accord during Monday’s meeting.
“I don’t like this budget, and I don’t think anyone does,” Hahn remarked.
But, she pointed out, it could be worse.
“I am aware that this budget won’t put us in a financial bind,” she remarked.
