LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass April 18 unveiled a nearly $13 billion proposed city budget for the 2023–24 fiscal year, which she said reflects the city’s values and invests in the most critical needs, including homelessness, public safety, and funding a “new L.A.”
“There is a difference between spending and investing,” Bass said during a news conference. “There is a difference between spending and investing. This budget makes investments in bringing people inside and public safety, and other areas that will lead a return in terms of saving lives, in terms of quality of life and better neighborhoods.”
The mayor’s proposed spending plan projects short-term stability, but at a slower than the historical growth rate in the city’s tax revenues of only 2.4 percent. The overall general fund budget will grow by 5.6 percent in part due to a $115 million transfer from the reserve fund. Bass’s budget proposal includes reserves of 10.03 percent, just above the 10 percent target set in the city’s financial policies….