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LA County’s $43 Billion Recommended Budget is Approved

The $43 billion Recommended Budget represents the first step in the County’s multi-phase annual budget process. The budget, approved by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, April 18th, will add 514 new positions—many of them in mental health and health services—for a total of 114,106 budgeted positions in the County workforce.

Highlights of the budget include:

• $692 million to mobilize the emergency response to the humanitarian crisis of homelessness with extensive investments in mental health outreach, supportive services, and a wide range of housing programs to increase the supply of affordable housing and move people off the streets and into safe living conditions in collaboration with our city governments.
• $288.3 million for Care First and Community Investment (CFCI, formerly known as Measure J) projects and programs to address racial disparities in the justice system. This fulfills the County’s commitment to allocate a full 10% of its locally generated unrestricted revenues by June 2024 to direct community investments and alternatives to incarceration.
• Nearly $125 million to improve conditions in the jails, including one-time funding for capital projects, and nearly $7 million to support continued Sheriff’s Department reforms, including reestablishing the Office of Constitutional Policing.

“This budget is all about building momentum on key Board priorities while also sustaining our unprecedented pace of innovation during the pandemic, which included the launch of four new departments as well as major initiatives to fight racism and poverty,” CEO Davenport said.

The spending plan reflects a mixed economic outlook, with modest increases in property and sales tax revenues but also uncertainty about the impacts of the State budget deficit, a dramatic slowdown in local real estate transactions that affect property taxes, and an unsettled economic environment overall. These and other County-specific pressures will likely mean that only the most critical new programs or services will be considered for funding later this year.

The Recommended Budget kicks off the County’s months-long budget cycle, which moves next to public hearings in May, followed by budget deliberations in June, and concludes with the approval of the Final Adopted Budget in October.

More information about the County budget, including a library of short, animated explainer videos, can be found at ceo.lacounty.gov/budget.

New on the County Channel

Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer is encouraging everyone to learn about Hands Only CPR in an effort to save lives.

You can watch more stories like this on Channel 92 or 94 on most cable systems, or anytime here. Catch up on LA County Close-Up here.

At Your Service

LACOE Affordable Connectivity Program Enrollment

The Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) is holding an Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) Enrollment Event on Saturday, May 6, 2023, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. at 12800 Ardis Avenue, Downey, CA 90242.

Eligible households can get a $30 monthly discount on home internet and a one-time $100 discount for a computer or a tablet. Staff will be available to help eligible families enroll in the program and start saving on their internet bill as soon as possible. There will also be opportunities to win a free device throughout the day! 

For more information, please call: (562) 940-1776 or visit: www.internetforallnow.org/events. 

Out and About

LA County Day at the Fair 

Photo Finish

Photo: Los Angeles County / Mayra Beltran Vasquez

Wild Poppy flowers blooming in Downtown Los Angeles

Click here to access more photos of LA County in action.