Los Angeles was forced to cut funding for its fire department after Mayor Karen Bass handed out gilded contracts to city employees, a public records review reveals.
The issue began early last year when Mr Bass settled contract negotiations with public sector unions. City employees received 20 to 25 percent pay raises and other perks over five years in dozens of agreements that cost the city $4.5 billion over the life of the contracts, according to an analysis by the city administrator. It took a while. City Journal reported.
A series of unintended payments resulting from a judgment against the city in a personal injury lawsuit brought Los Angeles to the brink.
“The city of Los Angeles is on the brink of a fiscal emergency, with a series of lawsuit payments blowing holes in the city's already tight budget, leaving its finances in a 'dire' state and with no funds to cover unplanned expenses.” said the paper. The Los Angeles Times wrote: In an October 2024 editorial, he slammed Bass' “self-inflicted” injuries.
The paper warned that the city's rainy day spending fund, which requires 10% of its $8 billion general fund budget, is in danger of falling below 2.75%, potentially triggering a fiscal emergency.
Financial situation forces bus and city councils Reduce the city's 2024-25 budget Sales totaled $12.9 billion, down from $13.1 billion the previous year.
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The decision resulted in budget cuts across 20 different areas, including a $17.6 million cut to the fire department.
“Any prediction that we will be unable to provide city services…is completely false,” the mayor's deputy communications manager, Zach Seidl, boasted last year, and he continues to advocate for the issue. I kicked it.
The scaled-down Los Angeles Fire Department proved no match for the deadly fires that tore through the Palisades and several other Los Angeles neighborhoods this week, causing more than $100 billion in damage and at least Five people died.
“Mayor Bass’ tenure is one of the unfortunate examples of the failure of progressive governance in California. Rather than focus on the city’s core needs, such as fire protection, Bass’s tenure is an example of the failure of progressive governance in California. “I've spent much of my energy as mayor negotiating salary contracts,” Judge Glock, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told the Post.
“Fires can and do start anywhere, but the clear failure of Los Angeles' fire response shows that Mayor Bass is focused on supporting the city's unions and progressive movements rather than the needs of its citizens.” It is also a result of our focus.”
