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BUDGET WHITE PAPER - This month, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates released their highly anticipated 2025 White Paper for the attention of LA City Officials, LA Neighborhood Councils and Angelenos prior to the 2025 City Budget Hearings.
This document offers a broad and focused overview of the City Budget, embedded in detailed findings of the current state of the Los Angeles City Departments and their services. Budget Advocates highlight critical challenges, including staffing shortages and funding cuts.
In addition, the 2025 White Paper meticulously outlines eleven pages of key recommendations, in the beginning section of the volume, aimed at improving the city departments’ efficiencies and demand for the city to evaluate its resource allocations for sustainable and equitable implementation for the coming fiscal year, 2025-26.
The 2025 White Paper is a product of the Budget Advocates participation in extensive departmental interviews with thirty (30) city departments, among them, Animal Services, the City Clerks’ Office, Personnel, and the General Services Department. Sincere and intense concerns surfaced on both sides of the table during the interviews across nearly all departments.
Budget Advocates identified a common thread across the city departments, a decrease in funding allocation compared to that of the previous fiscal year, the cancelling out of the long existing vacancy positions paid by the General Fund, and personnel’s workload stretching beyond normal duties. This occurred not only as a result of the 2024 labor union wage negotiations-increased wages, and the rise in city litigation costs, but other city budget mismanagement. Thus, reduction in resources has strained the departments’ ability to maintain adequate staffing levels for providing essential services.
This winter, in preparation for the department visits, Budget Advocates, elected Neighborhood Council board members, participated in city budget presentations and trainings from various sources: City Controller Kenneth Mejia; City Administrator Officer, Jacob Wexler; and NC Budget Advocate Development Officer, Barbara Ringette.
The 2025 White Paper has been emailed to the Los Angeles City Council, City Departments, and Mayor Karen Bass. Additionally, the document is available free of charge to the public at NCBudgetAdvocates.orG.
In summary, the White Paper is important because it reflects the Los Angeles City Charter, serving as a tangible representation of the Neighborhood Council. The 2025 White Paper is detailed to promote public participation in city government and in the decision-making processes, ensuring transparency and accountability, so that City government is more responsive to its residents’ needs and requests.
A Community Impact Statement (CIS) from Neighborhood Councils, or public comment may be sent to the City Council, Los Angeles City Hall, 200 N. Spring Street, Room 395, Los Angeles, CA 90012 c/o Office of the City Clerk for Council File # 190600.
(Connie Acosta is a board member of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council system, and is writing for the Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates.)
