Los Angeles is Broke – City Declares Fiscal Emergency

The city of Los Angeles declared a state of fiscal emergency amid a $1 billion deficit

by Armstrong Economics, Martin Armstrong

The city of Los Angeles declared a state of fiscal emergency amid a $1 billion deficit. The council approved of the emergency declaration unanimously in a 14-0 vote. This comes after Mayor Karen Bass approved a $14 billion budget for the fiscal year that began on July 1. The city is a prime example of what happens when socialist policies are allowed to run rampant at the expense of the people.

Bass approved of raising the budget from $12.9 billion in FY2024-25 to $14 billion in 2025-26 despite the looming $1 billion deficit. Unsurprisingly, overspending is the main culprit for the deficit, and yet, lawmakers have every intention of spending more. Over 600 public sector workers will be let go as a result of fiscal mismanagement, and although small government is usually applaudable, the city plans to fire 248 LAPD employees, 44 sanitation workers, and 41 firefighters. LA is experiencing a significant uptick in crime, but plans to defund the police to appease the mobs.

California Governor Gavin Newsom boasts of California’s robust economy but fails to acknowledge that it’s a state basically living “paycheck-to-paycheck,” with the payee being the taxpayer. Read the state’s plan to cover its budget deficits – endless taxes. Spending growth from 2025-26 to 2028-29 is 5.8%, above the average of 3.5%. Growth over the same period is just above 4%, “lower than its historical average, largely due to policy choices that end during the forecast window. Taken together, we view it as unlikely that revenue growth will be fast enough to catch up to ongoing spending.” Even residents who choose or are forced to leave the state will incur taxes to cover government thievery. Los Angeles is one of countless examples of how the public sector will virtue signal to rob Peter, not to pay Paul, but to pay themselves, as they are not hiding the corruption.

Liability costs totaled $546 million in the past years, as there have been numerous lawsuits, mainly involving the Los Angeles Police Department, which is forbidden by law to enforce order. The city refused to budget for these growing legal battles. Not only does the city plan to fire officers, but they also reduced hiring by 50% last year, recruiting 240 new officers instead of the 480 needed to patrol the city.

I’ve reported numerous times how California uses the homeless epidemic to fund NGOs that merely steal from the taxpayers. Mayor Bass stated she plans to cut 10% of funding to the “Inside Safe” program. The city has spent millions on combating homelessness, and the numbers continue to rise.

Crime is more expensive than funding the LAPD. Criminals have cost the city of Los Angeles an estimated $7.6 billion annually. Gang violence alone costs the city around $1 billion per year, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, which is half of the annual budget of the LAPD. The California Department of Justice has acknowledged that property crime has risen in recent years and accounts for 60–70% of total losses. Yet, violent demonstrations are permitted to occur whenever Washington enacts a policy that displeases the Democrats.

Blue policies such as the net-zero climate initiative have caused businesses to flee Los Angeles and California as a whole. From 2020 to the present day, over 164 companies have left California. In the last year, 12 major companies like SpaceX, Chevron, X, and KFC have fled CA for TX. Los Angeles shed 106 corporate headquarters between 2018 and 2024, the second-highest number of losses in US metros behind San Francisco/San Jose.

Taxpayers are fleeing the state en masse. State and local taxes are among the highest in the nation and disproportionately harm the middle and upper classes to fund the growing public sector. Energy costs have skyrocketed, with major refiners abandoning California. Gas is expected to rise 75% by 2026, and residents are already paying the highest price for gas in the nation. The cost of living is exorbitant. Those who can have already fled as the government must continue to leech of the taxpayers to fund their failures.

There should be checks and balances against these elected officials who recklessly spend with no end in sight. Downsizing the police force is a political move that will only cause crime and the costs associated with crime to rise. Los Angeles is becoming a failed city as a direct result of socialist policies that have historically NEVER worked.

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