City Council Approves the 2015-2016 Budget

This week, the City Council approved the Fiscal Year 2015-2016 Budget. The Budget and Finance Committee built on the Mayor’s proposed budget, finding an additional $50 million in net revenue. Here are some of the highlights of what was adopted:

Public Safety

• Fully funds Fire Dispatch
• Provides 5 Firefighter Training Classes
• Fully restores Ambulance services
• Funds vital Fire Life Safety Equipment and Technology for Fire Fighters
• Adds a New Engine Company to increase the restoration of the Fire Department
• Initiates a False Alarm Fee Process
• Funds the innovative Nurse Practitioner program to help residents access better emergency services and improve ambulance response times
• Upgrades our emergency communication systems
• Provides money to reduce LAPD’s Fingerprint Backlog
• New Black and White vehicles and zero-emission motorcycles for LAPD
• Provides vital funding for the Devonshire PALS Center to serve our most vulnerable at-risk youth
• Adds technology and resources for the Emergency Management Department

Public Works

• Preserves 2,400 lane miles of street pavement
• Trims 57,000 trees
• Provides $2 million in median maintenance
• Fills 350,000 potholes
• Increases funding for sidewalk repair
• Restores graffiti abatement funding
• Expands the Clean Streets program to combat illegal dumping
• Creates coordinated Sustainability efforts to protect our communities

Critical City Services

• Expands the school crossing guard program
• Reduces the Personnel Department’s testing backlog – vital to restoring city services
• Expedited Plan Review positions provided for the Department of Transportation
• Additional resources for Pavement Preservation Quality Control
• Creates a pathway to increase Neighborhood Council funding by up to $5,000 a year
• Includes a Neighborhood Council online voting pilot
• Adds staff for the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
• Fully funds our Senior Centers – including Wilkinson, in Northridge
• Funds technology for use by our Disability Community
• Provides Youth Employment funding
• Adds a Zoning Administrator to increase the level of planning services for the Valley
• Creates a Neighborhood Conservation unit and Code Amendments unit to enforce planning conditions

Financial Responsibility

• Brings the City’s Reserve Fund up to $313.5 million, or 5.8% of General Fund revenue
• Brings the Budget Stabilization (Rainy Day) Fund up to $91.9 million
• Restores audit funding for the City Controller
• Eliminates the Business Tax for New Car Dealership leases as well as sales
• Resources for added intergovernmental meetings and training
• Initiates a cost-benefit analysis for the City’s Historic Preservation designation
• Builds on efficiencies, using data and metrics and provides funding to update vital technology infrastructure for more streamlined and transparent service delivery
• Eliminates the previously projected $165 million deficit for the current year and fully eliminates the structural deficit by 2019.