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.