LA Budget Math

Could this be a Nixon-to-China opportunity for Mayor Bass?

This post has been updated to correct a math error.

According to Los Angeles’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, the city spent $6.5 billion on salaries (see pages 251-255) and benefits (see page 55), 58 percent of the city’s total expenditures. That’s what happens when politicians owe their political careers to public employee unions. Something similar has happened in Sacramento under a governor who likewise owes his political advancement to public employee unions. But though public employee unions have made her political career to this point, could this be a Nixon-to-China opportunity for Mayor Bass?