This week, Los Angeles city council members will kick off a series of public hearings about the city’s $12.8 billion budget proposal.
The budget is essential for city operations and decisions made over the next few weeks will have a big impact on L.A.
Public budget hearings begin Tuesday at City Hall in Downtown L.A. The documents and discussions, which give you a peek into how the city’s planning for the future, are incredibly dense.
To make sense of it all — and to explain what the budget means for you — we’ve compiled this guide to understanding the budget.
What the budget covers
The overall budget is the way city leaders know what they can spend for the next year, which is mostly determined by the projected health of our funds. As my colleague Brianna Lee recently explained, the mayor proposes the budget and then a series of hearings take place to discuss the details and issue recommendations. Then the budget will go on to the full City Council for a vote.
The budget is made of multiple funds. Here are the main categories:
- The General Fund: This is the primary bank account that L.A. works out of. Unrestricted money is put into it, and it’s used to pay for a wide variety of services.
- The Reserve Fund: This is where unrestricted cash is set aside for unexpected needs and emergencies, like a savings account.
- The Budget Stabilization Fund: This is where cash from prosperous years is set aside to help offset lean financial years.
- Special funds: These are funds created for a special purpose and the money in them is restricted to that. An example is the special gas tax fund, which can only be used for our streets system. L.A. has more…
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