Gordon wrote on Jan 9
th, 2025 at 5:56pm:
LA Mayor Karen Bass cut fire department funding by $17.6M, focused on homeless spending— months before wildfires turned city into hellscape Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass faced scorching criticism Wednesday as it was revealed she cut the city’s Fire Department budget by $17.6 million ahead of this week’s devastating fires – as she prioritized funds for its massive homeless population that largely went unspent, according to a report.
The cut was the second largest in Bass’ 2024-25 fiscal budget, city figures show – and it wasn’t even the gutting she wanted.
If she had it her way, the LAFD budget would have been slashed by $23 million.
LA budgeted $837 million for the Bravest in fiscal year 2023-2024 — which was shockingly 65% of the $1.3 billion slated for the homeless, according to Fox News.
A city comptroller study found that nearly half of that funding went unused, according to the outlet.
https://nypost.com/2025/01/08/us-news/la-mayor-karen-bass-cut-fire-department-fu... Oh dear , another right wing "alternative facts " story.
Critics on social media have alleged that Mayor Karen Bass cut the city fire department’s budget by $23 million this year. The accusation has spread quickly, with many looking to cast blame for the devastating wildfires that have destroyed thousands of buildings in Los Angeles County this week and resulted in at least 4 deaths.
In her story on criticism’s of Mayor Bass during this crisis, reporter Linh Tat addressed the budget question.
“On Thursday, a spokesperson for L.A. City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who was budget chair last year, said
the city increased the fire department’s overall budget by approximately $53 million in the current fiscal year. However, $76 million – intended to pay for fire department personnel – was placed in a fund separate from the fire department’s regular account when the budget was adopted because contract negotiations with department employees were still taking place at the time.” As a result, if you just compare the LAFD’s budget last year to this year’s, it looks like it went down $23M. But that’s because when the budget was adopted last May or June, the city was still negotiating those new contracts. The $76M that was set aside in a separate account ultimately was moved once the MOUs were finalized.