Los Angeles’ city administrative officer has recommended layoffs to close an estimated $675 million budget deficit, including cutting nearly 1,000 police officer positions, a move that would bring the number of cops on the street to the lowest in two decades.
If the City Council approves the move, it would be a major shift in public policy in a city that left public safety, both police and fire, nearly intact while other departments experienced sharp cuts in the aftermath of the 2008 recession.
Historically, CAO Richard Llewellyn’s second financial status report for fiscal year 2020-21 would have been a transactional report, he wrote, but given the recent surge in COVID-19 cases and the extended safer at home order, which is contributing to a worsening revenue outlook, the report “also presents a plan and specific reduction proposals to address the city’s daunting budget gap.”
The CAO reported last month that the city was facing an estimated $400 million to $600 million shortfall in general fund revenues, but is now projecting it could reach $675 million by June 30.
Llewellyn advised Mayor Eric Garcetti and the City Council at a hearing on Friday to make steep cuts to the Los Angeles Police Department. The
His recommendations would cut the number of rank-and-file officers by roughly 10% and also eliminate 728 civilian jobs within the department.
If city leaders move ahead with the proposal, it would leave LAPD with fewer officers than at any point in the past 25 years.
Garcetti’s predecessor Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa set a goal of increasing the number of city police officers to 10,000, maintaining that goal even as the city worked through the 2008 recession and the ensuing slow recovery. Garcetti has carried through on that policy in his second term as mayor, until the protests in the wake of the slaying of George Floyd in Minneapolis forced the city to rethink the structure of the police department.
The cuts, if approved, would affect the LAPD’s ability to respond to major crimes, just as it faces a “drastic” increase in homicide rates,” Llewellyn warned. It could also result in the closure of police stations, and if the civilian layoffs at LAPD are approved, sworn personnel would be reassigned to cover some civilian roles, further reducing the number of police officers on the streets, he wrote.
"These reductions are difficult and will negatively impact city services," Llewellyn wrote. "The need for immediate action, however, is critical to address the magnitude of the budget gap. Delays in taking actions will result in more severe reductions later in the budget year."
The CAO's recommendations also would result in deferring or cancelling capital projects, transferring employees from general funded positions to special funded vacancies, and implementing a citywide 3% budget reduction.
During a Friday night press conference, Garcetti said the city has been meeting with the Police Protective League, the police officers’ union, and will continue talking to both the police and firefighter’s union as well as unions representing civilian unions. On the table, has been 3% cost-of-living raises that police officers were due to receive this year.
The mayor said he wanted to emphasize the current crisis is “not the fault of our city employees.”
It’s not like 2009, when people could make the case that raises were too big and pensions were overly generous, Garcetti said. Through negotiations with all city employees, the city has worked over the past decade to bring salaries in line and negotiated pension reforms, he said.
"Today’s raises, are merely paying people to do the things they are doing," Garcetti said.
He did acknowledge that most of the city’s expenses come from city worker salaries, but added that layoffs will be the very “last option we consider.”
“I apologize to city workers, because sometimes we have to plan and think ahead on budget decisions, which leads people to worry about whether they will have a job,” Garcetti said.
“We will do everything we can to get the federal funding we deserve, and to look at other cost cutting measures to limit the number of layoffs,” he said. “Just as we did in 2009, we will get through this together.”
