Mayor Bass has unveiled a $14.9 billion pre-election budget that avoids layoffs, boosts police hiring and trims her signature homelessness program, but leaves the Los Angeles Fire Department with little new funding.
The plan for Fiscal Year 2026-27,released Monday,hikes spending by roughly $745 million while keeping much of the city’s homelessness system intact, even as critics warn it is“more of the same” after last year’s near-$1 billion deficit crisis.
It lands in the heat of a tightening mayoral race, with Bass under growing pressure from challengers includingreality TV star-turned-candidate Spencer Pratt,with public safety and homelessness the defining issues in the race.
A major pillar of the budget, and a looming political risk, is its reliance on business taxes, which generate roughly $895 million annually and fund core services such as policing, fire response and street repairs.
Just last week, the hostile socialist City Council moved to study a ballot measure that could repeal the tax entirely, a step that could strip an estimated $800 million a year from city coffers.
When pressed, Bass was blunt: “Eliminating the business tax would eliminate the Fire Department.”
The fire department will see just 40 new positions, with any broader expansion delayed until at least November, a reality Bass acknowledged as “basically cuts,” even as she insisted emergency coverage remains intact.
Fire officials have repeatedly warned about staffing shortages and increasing call volumes across the city.
The strain was already evident during thePalisades wildfire response, where the LAFD’s own internal review found it failed to fully staff available resources despite dangerous conditions.
The report said roughly 225 additional firefighters were needed to man engines and equipment that were left idle.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
