Los Angeles County’s proposed budget for next year is about $1.4 billion less than last year, but adds more mental health workers and increases funding to address homelessness.
county chief executive facia davenport The Board of Supervisors said at its meeting Tuesday that their $45.4 billion budget ensures the county can provide critical safety net services while remaining fiscally viable.
The budget recommends spending $728.2 million in Measure H funding to hire more homeless outreach workers, buy motels and hotels, and lease entire buildings to quickly house residents coming off the streets.
Outreach workers begin the process of connecting a homeless woman to housing and other services in MacArthur Park, Los Angeles, in October 2021.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
Supervisor Janice Hahn said it is the most money the county has ever dedicated to “addressing this crisis.”
Justice advocates pushed back on the county’s funding priorities Tuesday, arguing that too much is going to the sheriff’s department, which has a recommended budget of about $4 billion.
These advocates and county leaders have been at odds over the past four years over how much money the county should spend on Measure J, the 2020 criminal justice reform measure that mandates that the money be set aside for social services.
“While you have all proudly shared that the budget represents the values of the board, I want to remind you all that you represent the people, and the people have repeatedly demanded that money be diverted from law enforcement. be withdrawn” and allocated to community programs, said Megan Castillo, policy and advocacy manager at the social justice nonprofit La Defensa.
LA County will likely have to Pay out over $3 billion To resolve nearly 3,000 claims of sexual abuse that allegedly occurred in its foster homes, child shelters and probation camps and halls in the 1970s. A state law passed in 2019 statute of limitations extendedOpening the door for such claims.
Davenport said there is no money in the proposed budget to pay these claims, as the county is still assessing when and how it will address the issue.
The budget may increase if there is money left over from the current fiscal year, or if additional money comes in from other sources at the end of the year.
Last year, officials presented a $43 billion budget that eventually grew to $46.7 billion. Last year, the proposed budget was $38.5 billion and increased to $44.6 billion.
However, county officials said this trajectory is not guaranteed in the event of a dramatic financial downturn.
Over the next two months, the county will hold public hearings on the budget, during which supervisors can propose changes before voting on it in June.
If the proposed budget is approved, LA County would add 835 jobs for a total of 116,159 positions.
Davenport said the county has negotiated new contracts with most of its labor unions, and the employees represented will see a cost-of-living increase. No layoffs are expected.
More than half the new jobs – 452 positions – will be to run the county’s mental health department New Care Court Program, Which allows families and others to petition for care for people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and expands staffing at homeless outreach teams and county clinics.
Maria Macias shows a copy of the petition she filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Norwalk to provide a treatment plan for her husband, whose schizophrenia and drug use have endangered his life and isolated him.
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
The agency has seen an increase in interest from job applicants After struggling in recent years Attracting such candidates to clinics known for their high volumes of critically ill patients. Leaders said the department offered money to pay off student loans and other incentives that helped recruit more people.
Supervisor Hilda L. Solis said, “I’m glad to see that we have 452 employees that are being brought into the mental health department, but we know we could probably use 1,500.” “That’s probably what we need, actually.”
Davenport said the budget represents a set of choices, “sometimes very difficult,” made in recent months after receiving thousands of individual requests and meeting with the county’s 38 departments.
He said county leaders requested $2 billion to fund Davenport’s office. His proposed budget recommends that the county fund $833 million of the requests in future budget years, with the rest not being funded.
Property taxes account for approximately 20% of the county’s budget and can be used for any purpose the supervisors deem appropriate. But much of the rest of the budget is restricted by state and federal law to spending on specific programs, Davenport said.
Davenport said, “For example, we can’t use Medicare dollars to fill potholes in our unincorporated areas, and we can’t redirect state funding for Project Homekey to support county commissions No matter how great the need.”
As is common at county budget hearings, the decision about what not to fund brought many questions from observers.
Hahn said he is disappointed that the Office of the Chief Executive has refused to fund the Office of the Public Defender’s request for 10 additional public defenders and 20 psychiatric social workers.
At the Hollywood Mental Health Court, public defenders have said they are assigned at least 500 cases each and have reportedly been told by their bosses to be wary of their mentally ill clients’ ability to stand trial. Stop expressing doubt, According to a complaint filed by the union last year,
Hahn said that without more support, public defenders cannot identify clients with serious mental illnesses for diversion programs.
“The important thing about this request is that it is clearly a trap within the safety net in our county,” Hahn said.
Supervisor Lindsay P. Horvath said she wanted to add $3 million to the county budget to fund legal aid centers, which have educated thousands of tenants facing eviction.
Paralegal Alejandra Patlan, left, checks on Olga Sanchez, who is seeking legal services, at the Legal Aid Clinic inside the Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center in Los Angeles. With him on the far right is lawyer Sheyda Zulharzadeh.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
“It’s $3 million well spent for all the people we’re able to keep out of homelessness,” Horvath said.
But these requests were not funded, in part because the county’s economic outlook remains “challenging,” Davenport said at a news briefing Monday.
County officials expect rising interest rates to reduce property tax revenue real estate transactions slowDavenport said.
Four years into the COVID-19 pandemic, some of LA’s commercial real estate remains vacant as employees continue to work from home. Davenport said it could also bring less tax money into the county’s coffers.
California faces budget deficit at least $38 billionAnd L.A. County could lose $127 million as a result of the state’s shortfall.
Another financial unknown relates to how much L.A. County will pay to address Poor conditions in its prisons. In the coming year, a judge could order that the county spend more money on mental health care and other services in jails.
The county will also have to spend millions to rebuild seismically. about 33 concrete buildingsWhich also includes the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, which is the headquarters of the supervisors and houses the offices of several county departments.
Measure H, approved in 2017, raises the quarter-cent sales tax, a major funding source for homeless services. Will expire in 2027, If it is not extended or changed the county will lose millions.
Times staff writers Rebecca Ellis and James Queally contributed to this report.
