Mayor Karen Bass says layoffs are coming

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass delivered her third State of the City address today, where, among other topics, she highlighted January's L.A. wildfires, the city’s homelessness crisis, L.A.’s billion-dollar budget deficit, public safety and the 2028 Olympics.

The State of the City address is an annual speech delivered by the mayor to the city council members, city officials, department chairs, community leaders and other residents. It is through this speech that Bass touches on current conditions, accomplishments, challenges and plans for L.A.

The gathering also serves as a recognition of the city's governance, including economic development teams, public safety agents, community program initiatives and other significant leaders.

This year, Bass, dressed in a light blue suit, addressed the Los Angeles John Ferraro City Council Chambers with her family sitting in the front row. “ No matter what our city faces, L.A. never ever gives up,” she said in the introduction of her address. “L.A. always rises.”

Budget cuts

Bass’ primary focus in her address was the city budget and looming deficits. As the city faces a nearly $1 billion deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year, Bass did not shy away from talking about the layoffs that are coming to many city jobs and positions.  

“As we begin budgeting for the new fiscal year, we must be clear-eyed about the city’s economic forecast, which anticipates lagging revenues and rising costs, similar to other cities and states across the country,” Bass wrote in a September 2024 letter. 

Rebuilding efforts and costs from the fires, the city’s overspending, lower tax revenues and increased legal liability costs are just some of the reasons behind the alarming deficit. Bass said on Monday that cities like L.A. are going through challenging economic times across the nation.  

“Turmoil and uncertainty from Washington and a slowing economy are causing lower revenue projections in the tens of hundreds of millions of dollars. Liability settlements have tripled from backed-up lawsuits during the pandemic and uncapped damages combined with personnel costs and, of course, the fires and rebuilding,” she said. “All together, Los Angeles, we have a very difficult budget to balance.” 

She said that since January, the city has been in active conversation to find solutions to address a worsening economic outlook. Reducing funding for the mayor's office, eliminating ghost positions and postponing some capital projects are some of the ways Bass said she has tried to improve the  worsening economic outlook. 

"I would like to take a minute to address our city workforce directly," Bass said during her address. "Make no mistake, you are the city's greatest asset. But I want to be straight with you. My proposed budget - unfortunately - includes layoffs, which is a decision of absolute last resort," Bass said when talking about her $13.95 billion proposed budget for the 2035-36 fiscal year, also being released today. 

Some of the only departments that will not be affected by the cuts are the Los Angeles Police Department and Fire Department.

Homelessness Crisis

Homelessness, which she referred to as a "humanitarian crisis,"  was also one of the main topics of Bass's address to the city. 

She touched on the recent decision, both from the city and the county, to move funding away from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the joint city-county agency. Recently, the county Board of Supervisors advanced a proposal that would create its own department by 2026 to manage regional homeless services. “ In the wake of the county's decision to withdraw from LAHSA and audits confirming what we already know—the system is broken; it must be transformed,” Bass said.

Despite this, she also talked about the drop in homelessness in the last year. “We are taking action and making change, and after years of increasing homelessness, we are finally reversing that trend—homelessness is down," Bass said. "We are moving thousands more people from the streets than before we took office, and more Angelenos are being moved into permanent housing than ever before. All of this comes as, nationwide, homelessness went up 18%—but not in Los Angeles.”

Bass said to make further progress on the homeless crisis in L.A. and continue to move thousands more people from the streets, the city will continue to experiment with new, less expensive financing models and acquire vacant structures, which will be faster than relying on building new properties.

L.A. fires

When it came to the January 7, 2025 catastrophic wildfires, Bass said  that the recovery in Pacific Palisades is on track. “We're not just moving fast to move fast. We know the faster we can rebuild, the faster we can heal. We still have a long way to go, and for those who have lost a home, each and every day is a day too long,” she said.

During her address, she also announced new actions to expedite the rebuilding permitting process, which includes establishing a self-certification program to reduce redundancy in the permitting process, launching an initiative to start using innovative AI technology to accelerate and support the city's Plan Check Review process and asking the city council to move forward on an ordinance to waive all plan check and permit fees so Palisades residents can rebuild as safely and as soon as possible. 

More LAPD hires are also in the works, Bass said, in effort to improve public safety and prepare for global events coming to the L.A. region, like the World Cup and the 2028 Summer Olympics. She announced the overall crime rate in the city declined in 2024, with homicides dropping 14% and shooting victims decreasing by 19%.

Olympics

Bass finished her address by talking about the 2028 Olympics, giving it a full 10 minutes of her time. ”We will now be only the third city in history to host three Olympic games,” Bass said. “The Games at their best are more than sports. They're a stage for courage, for potential, for dreams. So L.A., let's go win; let's win on the world stage, but let's especially win here at home. We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to each other, but most of all, we owe it to the next generation of Angelenos.”

To read the full address, go to https://mayor.lacity.gov/news/mayor-bass-state-city-speech-delivered-0.