Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday proposed removing more than 1,600 government workers to try to fill the $160 billion budget gap while fighting the costly job of rebuilding a seaside neighborhood levelled by the January wildfire.
The prospect of crafting hundreds of government jobs is coming as the latest unwelcome news for the First Democrats who support reelection next year.
In his speech to the city council, Bass called the city’s workforce “the city’s biggest asset,” but said cuts were needed as Washington’s uncertainty city hall wrestled and the cost of workers’ salaries and benefits, slowing the economy and rebuilding the wealthy Pacific Parisades community.
“We have a budget that is very difficult to balance,” Bass said. She suggested reducing her decision to propose a job as a “last resort.”
David Green, president of the local 721 Service Employees Union, representing more than 10,000 city workers, said the union is looking for new sources of funding and other alternatives to significantly reduce jobs.
“We are not going to allow out-of-touch bureaucrats to balance the budget for city workers’ backgrounds,” Green said in a statement.
Later last month, Bass and the city council called on Sacramento for roughly $2 billion in disaster recovery assistance as Bass’ offices faced a forecast shortage of nearly $1 billion. She is back in Sacramento this week to seek additional state funding that could reduce the proposed layoffs.
The Palisades Fire destroyed more than 6,800 structures and killed at least 12 people.
It is up to the council to approve the spending blueprint for the fiscal year beginning July 1st. Firefighters and sworn police officers will not be cut.
Bass’ workforce reduction proposals are reminiscent of the difficult financial stretch of the 2008 economic recession. At the time, Antonio Villaraigoza ticked thousands of government jobs to keep the book balanced, paying city workers for the first time to pay their pensions and healthcare, and tightening them with the union of teachers who once employed him.
During the coronavirus pandemic, then Eric Garcetti struck around 15,000 city workers and offered others an early retirement package, but avoided a massive, layoff completely.
Despite the city’s volatile financial situation, Bass gave an almost cheerful speech to the council, noting that crimes, including murder, had fallen in place and that the city was gradually taking homeless individuals from the streets to housing. She admitted that it was obvious. The numbers refer to improvements, but homeless camps remain familiar sights in town neighborhoods, and homes need more funding.
She said.
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