The Los Angeles City Council may share many of Mayor Karen Bass’ priorities, and while the budget it ends up adopting may look similar to what the mayor has proposed, the council won’t simply rubberstamp Bass’ proposed $13 billion spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year, either.
At least that’s the message that Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who chairs the council’s powerful budget committee, has emphasized as committee members have met in the past two weeks to discuss the mayor’s proposal.
Case in point: Bass has proposed ramping up Inside Safe, her signature program for bringing people living on the streets indoors, by asking for $250 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
That’s five times the amount she asked the City Council for in January to pilot the program. Blumenfield, in an interview Thursday, May 4, said it was one thing to grant $50 million initially to jumpstart Inside Safe. But now that the mayor and her administration have had more time to develop the program, the council would like to see more accountability — and have a greater say in how the money is spent.
For that reason, the budget committee instructed Sharon Tso, the city’s chief legislative analyst, to return to the committee next week to recommend how much of the $250 million should be released to the mayor’s office at the start of the new fiscal year and how much could be set aside in the budget’s “unappropriated balance” fund for future use.
Money designated for a specific department or office can be placed in the unappropriated balance category until the City Council has had time to consider policies related to the use of the money — or until a more comprehensive plan is developed for spending the money.
“We want to make sure (the mayor has) money that is fast and accessible and flexible” at the start of the fiscal year, Blumenfield said. “At the same time, we need accountability. We haven’t seen all the details on how the first $50…
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