Los Angeles budget 2026 prioritizes homelessness, public safety, and core services while avoiding cuts, but critics argue it maintains a status quo many residents question.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday unveiled a proposed $14.85 billion city budget for the coming fiscal year, pitching the plan as a steady course for City Hall that preserves spending on homelessness, public safety and core city services without the sweeping cuts that defined last year’s spending plan.
The proposal for the 2026-27 fiscal year includes an $8.59 billion general fund budget and relies on stronger-than-expected tax revenues to help stabilize city finances according to city officials. It would avoid layoffs, eliminate around 149 vacant positions, and add 500 net new jobs overall, officials said.
At a City Hall news conference Monday, Bass said the budget is focused on “continuing to change L.A. and move it forward.”
“This budget is about protecting the progress we’ve made and making clear that Los Angeles is moving forward,” Bass said. “It reflects the urgency that Angelenos expect and accountability that Angelenos deserve.”
The spending plan marks a notable contrast with last year’s proposed $13.95 billion budget, when city officials worked to close a nearly $1 billion gap and warned that up to 1,647 staff positions could be cut. This year, officials described the city’s financial outlook as more stable, with revenues such as business, sales and utility taxes coming in above projections.
“All in all this proposed budget represents a steady move toward fiscal stability from the turbulence of the prior year,” City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo said.
Even so, the proposal is largely a maintenance budget, preserving existing programs rather than dramatically expanding them. City officials said the plan is intended to sustain progress in areas Bass has emphasized since taking office, particularly homelessness, housing production, public safety and neighborhood services.
Some critics, however, said the proposal does not go far enough.
Councilmember Nithya Raman, who’s running to unseat Bass, said the budget largely maintains the status quo.
“The budget the Mayor released today tells us the plan is to largely keep doing what we’re doing — but what we’re doing is not working,” Raman said in a statement. “This budget maintains a status quo of reduced services and higher fees, the direct result of fiscally irresponsible decisions made by this Mayor in prior years.”
Mayoral candidate Adam Miller also criticized the approach.
“Keeping the budget flat and our services flat implies that the status quo is working and we should continue with the status quo,” Miller said in a statement. “That is tone-deaf to the city of Los Angeles as Angelenos overwhelmingly feel we need change.”
Under the proposal, the city would maintain funding for Bass’ Inside Safe program at about $104 million, with no reduction in beds or services, officials said. Overall spending on homelessness program is expected to total roughly $778 million, according to city officials.
Officials tied that spending to what they described as continued progress on homelessness, pointing to recent data showing street homelessness in Los Angeles down 18%.
“Street homelessness is down almost 18% in the city of Los Angeles, while it increased 18% in the nation,” Bass said. “We’re building more housing, accelerating 42,000 units through my executive directive. And in addition, about 6,000 of those 42,000 are actively under construction now.”
The budget also continues support for interim housing beds, street-level homelessness services and adding staffing to help administer Measure ULA-funding housing programs. Officials said the plan preserves the mayor’s border housing agenda, including efforts to accelerate affordable housing development.
On public safety, the proposal calls for the Los Angeles Police Department to continue hiring to attrition, with officials projecting roughly 510 hires to offset about 510 departures. The city expects to begin the fiscal year with a sworn force of about 8,555 officers, according to officials, while maintaining a long-term goal of growing the department over time.
The LAPD’s proposed budget totals about $2.11 billion, officials said.
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