PPOA Executive Director
wquint@ppoa.com
At the April 23 L.A. County Board of Supervisors meeting, the County Chief Executive Office and its CEO, Fesia Davenport, presented the 2024–25 recommended budget to Supervisors Solis, Mitchell, Horvath, Hahn and Barger (Districts 1–5, respectively). This is the first step in the County’s multistep budget process, which includes public hearings in May, deliberations leading to the approval of the adopted budget in June and the supplemental budget, concluding with the approval of the final adopted budget in October 2024.
The presentation began with a five-minute animated learning video entitled “Budget Quest,” featuring “Buddy the Budget Wiz” (tinyurl.com/ytkt2yhr), who attempts to explain the County’s complex budget process to build and fund a new program. According to Buddy and the 23-page L.A. County Strategic Plan 2024–2030 (tinyurl.com/4z3n37w5), which was adopted on March 6, there are nine Board of Supervisors’ board-directed priorities: (1) Child Protection; (2) Health Integration; (3) Care First, Jails Last; (4) Homelessness; (5) Environmental Justice and Climate Health; (6) Immigration; (7) Sustainability; (8) Anti-Racism, Diversity and Inclusion; and (9) Poverty Alleviation.
The key takeaway from this video is that the County’s discretionary spending is predominantly funded by Net County Cost (NCC) — locally generated revenues primarily from property and sales taxes as well as other taxes/fees.
On November 3, 2020, the voters of L.A. County approved Measure J, which dedicated no less than 10% of the County’s NCC revenues to address the disproportionate impact of racial disparities in the justice system. In August of 2021, Measure J was invalidated by the trial court but was appealed by the County of Los Angeles. That same month, the board moved forward with instituting Measure J as Board Policy 4.031, the Care First and Community Investment (CFCI) policy.
On July 28, 2023, the California Second District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s decision invalidating Measure J. The California Supreme Court decided not to review the appellate court’s decision, resulting in the reinstatement of Measure J. The board first set aside 10% of NCC revenues for CFCI three years ago in response to Measure J. The CFCI has already outstripped 33 of 38 County department budgets in terms of the County’s fiscal contribution.
CEO Davenport then presented a 12-slide 2024–25 recommended budget PowerPoint titled “Powering the Priorities.” The total 2024–25 recommended budget is $45.4 billion, which is $1.4 billion less than last year’s 2023–24 final adopted budget. This also includes an increase of 835 budgeted positions from the 2023–24 final adopted budget of 115,324 budgeted positions, bringing the recommended County workforce budgeted positions to 116,559. More than half of these new 835 positions are for positions in the Department of Mental Health, which, according to the slide “Mental Health Leads the Way,” is a critical component driving multiple board priorities.
The 835 new budgeted positions are funded almost entirely by federal and state dollars. Unfortunately, the only reference to public safety in the slide presentation was the 10% CFCI set aside and the five departments that allocated greater ongoing NCC, which included the Sheriff’s Department and the departments of Health Services, Children and Family Services, Public Social Services and Probation, ranked in that order.
Tucked away in the CEO’s 2024–25 19-page recommended budget transmittal letter to the board is that of the 835 new County-budgeted positions, the Sheriff’s Department will receive 29 new budgeted positions needed to comply with the Department of Justice consent decree requirements in the jail system (page 3 — tinyurl.com/ytkt2yhr). These positions include plumbers and custodians, as well as administrative staff working on compliance with the Rosas settlement.
On pages 7 and 8 of the letter, three budgetary topics are worth reading. They appear under “Care First, Jails Last”: (1) CFCI set aside 10% of NCC; (2) Independent Pretrial Services; and (3) the DOJ consent decree, which includes a set-aside amount of $9.3 million in the Provisional Financing Uses (PFU) budget unit for body-worn cameras for custody deputies “to increase transparency and accountability in custody operations. These adjustments continue the County’s commitment to improve conditions and mental health care for those who must remain in custody at its jails.”
Page 8 concludes with an allocation of a net $0.1 million in one-time funding to the Sheriff’s Department to continue four Academy classes initially funded in FY 2023–24. “These classes are needed to adequately staff the jails to meet the requirement of the DOJ consent decree and help to close the Department’s significant sworn vacancy gap, as well as to train a new generation of deputies.” Wait for it … “This does not expand the number of academy classes budgeted last year.”
The LASD, like law enforcement agencies across the country, faces a historic crisis in recruiting and retaining qualified candidates. This crisis demands an immediate and effective response that results in maintaining staffing levels that adequately meet our communities’ public safety expectations. This crisis, along with fulfilling the fundamental duty of government to keep its citizenry safe, should be the highest of priorities of our elected leaders, and if the 2024–25 recommended budget is any indication, it regrettably is not.