LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday proposed shedding greater than 1,600 authorities employees in an try to shut a virtually $1 billion funds hole amid a slumping economic system whereas town contends with the pricey job of rebuilding a seaside neighborhood leveled in a January wildfire.
The prospect of chopping lots of of presidency jobs comes as the most recent unwelcome information for the first-term Democrat, who will stand for reelection subsequent yr.
In an deal with to town council, Bass referred to as the municipal workforce the “metropolis’s best asset” however mentioned cuts had been wanted as Metropolis Corridor wrestles with uncertainty in Washington, increased prices for employee salaries and advantages, a slowing economic system, and the daunting work of rebuilding the prosperous Pacific Palisades group.
“We’ve a really tough funds to steadiness,” Bass mentioned. She referred to as her determination to suggest job cuts a “final resort.”
David Inexperienced, president of Service Staff Worldwide Union, Native 721, which represents over 10,000 metropolis employees, mentioned the union could be on the lookout for new funding sources and different options to slashing jobs.
“We’re not going to permit the out-of-touch bureaucrats … to steadiness the funds on the backs of metropolis employees,” Inexperienced mentioned in an announcement.
Late final month, Bass and town council appealed to Sacramento for almost $2 billion in catastrophe restoration assist as town faces a projected deficit that Bass’ workplace pegged at almost $1 billion. She plans to return to Sacramento this week to hunt extra state funds that would scale back the proposed layoffs.
The Palisades Hearth destroyed greater than 6,800 constructions and killed not less than 12 folks.
It’s as much as the council to approve the spending blueprint for the fiscal yr that begins July 1. No firefighters or sworn law enforcement officials could be reduce.
Bass’ proposed work power reductions recall the tough monetary stretch of the 2008 recession, when then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ended up chopping hundreds of presidency jobs to maintain the books in steadiness, pushed municipal employees for the primary time to pay towards their pensions and well being care, and clashed with the lecturers union that after employed him.
Through the coronavirus pandemic, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti furloughed about 15,000 metropolis employees and supplied early retirement packages to others, however averted outright layoffs at a big scale.
Regardless of town’s shaky monetary form, Bass delivered a principally upbeat speech to the council, noting that crime had dipped, together with homicides, and town was steadily getting homeless people off the streets and into housing. She acknowledged the plain: Although the numbers level to enchancment, homeless encampments stay a well-recognized sight in neighborhoods throughout town and extra funds are wanted for housing.
There may be “a lot additional to go,” she mentioned.
