LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A Los Angeles City Council committee is set to begin the lengthy task of breaking down Mayor Eric Garcetti's proposed 2019-20 budget today ahead of the new fiscal year which begins July 1.
The Budget and Finance Committee's process over the last few years has tended to take several weeks as it works to come up with a revised budget that could be approved with a majority of support of the full City Council.
As it gets ready to dive in, the committee is looking at the biggest proposed budget in the city's history, with an overall $10.6 billion budget and $6.53 billion in general fund revenue projected for the coming fiscal year along with record reserves.
Garcetti is proposing big increases in infrastructure investment, police technology, police overtime, illegal cannabis enforcement and support for the homeless.
Councilman Paul Krekorian, chairman of the committee, has already expressed support for Garcetti's priorities.
“The mayor has laid out a vision for Los Angeles that charts our course for an ambitious future. When I took office in 2010 during the throes of the Great Recession, the projected deficit for this year was over $1 billion,” Krekorian said earlier this month when the proposed budget was released. “Through years of hard work and tough choices under the mayor's leadership, we built up the strongest reserves in our city's history. And for the first time since I began leading the city's budget oversight seven years ago, the proposed budget will eliminate our structural deficit based on the city's forecast and create structural balance.”
The proposed budget is his strongest to date since taking office in 2013, Garcetti told reporters earlier this month.
“It's a budget that lifts up people in need. It's a budget that gives everyone an opportunity to share in growth and opportunity, and it's a budget that tells a story of a back-to-basics approach to delivering services that people depend on and need,” Garcetti said.
The Budget and Finance Committee is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. in the council chamber at L.A. City Hall.
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