Wave Staff Report
LOS ANGELES — Mayor Karen Bass has signed the city budget for fiscal year 2026-27 focused on continuing her work reversing longstanding trends by reducing homelessness, building more housing, hiring more police officers and investing in basic city services.
Bass was joined by City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and members of the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee, including Chair Katy Yaroslavsky, Councilman Tim McOsker, and Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez along with a number of city workers from multiple departments for the signing ceremony May 28.
“As mayor, my focus has been to change the direction of L.A. by reversing longstanding trends on homelessness, housing, public safety, and investment in basic city services,” Bass said. “This budget builds on that work so we can keep making progress.
“This budget is evidence of the dedication of Mayor Bass, Budget Chair Yaroslavsky, and the City Council to prioritize the needs of Angelenos, claim L.A. as our home, and make the city the one we all deserve,” Harris-Dawson said. “From prioritizing city services and infrastructure improvements to investing in public safety, together we are readying our city to welcome the world and build long-term benefits for residents.”
The $14.85 billion balanced budget projects increased property, business, sales and utility tax revenues, promotes greater efficiency in city services, and maximizes the use of special funds and new revenue enhancements. It prioritizes the following:
- Continuing to drive down homelessness.
- Bolstering public safety.
- And investing in infrastructure and basic city services.
Under the new budget, Bass’ Inside Safe homeless program will be maintained along with increased funding to address RV encampments.
The budget also calls for hiring 510 new police officers while providing training in use-of-force, de-escalation new mental health intervention and combating copper wire theft.
It also funds patrols in downtown L.A. to address retail theft and street takeovers, cracking down on illegal activity in MacArthur Park, a task force on human trafficking, maintaining deployment of 500 crossing guards and citywide coverage for civilian crisis response.
The budget also includes increased funding for street and sidewalk repair, street sweeping, bulky item pick up, and dedicated illegal dumping enforcement throughout the city, 700 miles of street repairs and the repair or replacement of up to 60,000 street lights citywide over the next two years.
“I want to thank Mayor Bass and her team for putting forward a budget that, from the outset, was built around many priorities shared by this council,” Yaroslavsky said. “This final budget does two very important things: It preserves and further invests in core city services, and it strengthens the city’s financial position. It also reflects a serious effort by the council and the mayor to keep Los Angeles moving forward while putting the city on a path towards fiscal sustainability.”
“In a year defined by significant fiscal challenges, this budget is centered on the city’s core responsibilities, including sidewalks, streets, curbs, public safety, homelessness response, and basic city services,” McOsker said. “Throughout this process, we remained committed to funding our values, protecting core services, supporting our workforce, and putting Los Angeles on stronger financial footing for the future.”
“At a time when the federal government is attacking immigrants, trans people, and working-class families while investing in punishment and division, Los Angeles chose to invest in care, prevention, dignity and the basic services our communities rely on,” Hernandez said. “These wins happened because Angelenos organized and fought for them, and I’m proud that this budget reflects the power of people refusing to give up on each other.”
