Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass proposes deep budget cuts, including department consolidations and mass layoffs

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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass proposes $60.7 million in fire department cuts (including $44 million from closing one fire station per district) and 1,647 city worker layoffs to address the city's $1 billion deficit.

Reducing fire stations would drastically increase response times (up to 30+ minutes), risking lives during fires, medical emergencies and disasters.

Falling tax revenues, skyrocketing liability payouts ($187M in lawsuits) and prior COVID relief mismanagement have left LA financially strained.

Loss of federal grants ($12 billion in health cuts, $10 million for LAPD, $68 million for Orange County) exacerbates the crisis, as California's dependency on aid is exposed.

Decades of excessive spending and reliance on unsustainable budgets have led to deep cuts in critical services, revealing a lack of long-term fiscal accountability.

Mayor Karen Bass has unveiled a financial plan that includes department closures and significant cuts to essential services as Los Angeles faces a nearly $1 billion budget shortfall. The proposal seeks to address declining tax revenues, escalating liability costs and lingering financial strain from disasters such as the Palisades Fire.

Bass proposed 1,647 layoffs across multiple departments; elimination of vacant positions and department consolidations, including merging Aging, Economic Development and Youth Services into a single entity; cuts to advisory commissions, such as the Health Commission and Climate Emergency Mobilization Commission; and reduced LAPD staffing, with projected officer numbers dropping to 8,639 due to recruitment challenges.

Despite the austerity measures, the Inside Safe homelessness program will maintain funding, though overall street outreach spending is set to decrease. Meanwhile, liability payouts, driven by lawsuits over police misconduct and workplace harassment, have doubled to $187 million, still far below the $320 million the city expects to pay this year.

However, the most alarming element is the potential closure of one fire station in each of the 16 council districts of the city, a move that could slash $44 million from the state firefighting budget on top of an existing $16.7 million cut. Such reductions would dangerously increase emergency response times, potentially delaying firefighters and paramedics by 30 minutes or more in some areas.

The LA Fire Department (LAFD) is already stretched thin, responding to rising calls for medical emergencies, wildfires and other disasters. The proposed cuts would mean fewer fire stations in operation, increasing coverage gaps; longer wait times for 911 responses, risking lives in emergencies and overburdened personnel, raising safety concerns for both first responders and residents.

Overall, the general fund revenue is now projected at $8 billion, down from the $8.14 billion initial forecast. This still requires City Council approval, and fierce opposition is expected, particularly over fire department cuts.

Durden: LA financial revelations show that the Golden State is broke

In Tyler Durden's article for ZeroHedge, he wrote that LA's new financial revelations exposed a grim reality: The Golden State is broke.

"For many years now the narrative on California is that it is a country unto itself, and it generates so many tax dollars that the federal government and red states should be throwing a garden party in its honor. In reality, California is not a "donor state" as the Rockefeller Institute claims. It can't even support itself, let alone bolster the rest of the country," Durden wrote.

California was once the biggest recipient of federal pandemic funds, securing $77.8 billion in direct state aid and over $600 billion in total Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) relief. Much of this money was misused to prop up bloated bureaucracies rather than emergencies. Now that the spigot has run dry, the state is reeling.

Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently terminated $12 billion in grants for public health programs, including a $1 billion earmarked for California in 2025. The City of Angels alone loses $45 million from this cut.

Federal law enforcement grants have also evaporated for "sanctuary cities" like LA, stripping the LAPD of over $10 million. The U.S. Justice Department's crackdown means further losses for agencies that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Orange County will forfeit $68 million in earmarked community funds, while California schools face $16 billion in education cuts under a federal mandate to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, jeopardizing $1.26 billion for the LA Unified School District alone.

Durden wrote: "It's no coincidence that LA is in fiscal trouble in 2025, and it's not only because of the $2 billion in damages associated with the recent wildfires. After decades of decadent debt spending, CA is deeply dependent on federal funds. Federal budget cuts and the shutdown of agencies like USAID are having far-reaching consequences, especially in progressive states with a heavy emphasis on socialized programs." (Related: Johns Hopkins cuts 2,000 jobs after Trump ends $800m in federal funding.)

Collapse.news has more stories like this.

Watch Gregory Mannarino warn of waves of corporate layoffs amid the world economy's rapid decline below.

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This video is from the What is Happening channel on Brighteon.com.