Council District 9 spending is among the highest in LA
The city’s revenues exceeded expenditures by $3.4 billion in fiscal year 2022 compared to $2.1 billion in fiscal year 2023.
By SYRA PATEL
The Los Angeles City Council released its spending report Jan. 24 for the fiscal year 2023, encompassing July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023. Council District 9 — the district in which USC is located — had the third highest total expenditures, totaling more than $3 million.
The report, authored by L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia, presented a breakdown of each council district’s expenditures and allocation of funds they received during the fiscal year.
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Money from Assembly Bill 1290 — established in 1994 to set standards for redevelopment activity in L.A. communities — accounted for approximately 78% of CD 9’s total expenditures. AB 1290 dedicates funding to the council districts that is compiled from property tax revenues, which accounts for 39.4% of local government operation funding, and is allocated toward the renovation and renewal of parks and recreational facilities in L.A.
CD 9 acquired a significant portion of funding from the Neighborhood Service Enhancements Fund in fiscal year 2023, receiving $425,000 of the overall $1.18 million it dedicated across all districts. This was the largest allocation of the funding among all council districts.
The other sources of funding that CD 9 received in fiscal year 2023 were from the Community Services Fund and Council District Real Property Fund, which are allocated towards infrastructure and community improvements. Together, these funds dedicated almost $300,000 to CD 9’s budget.
On June 1, L.A. City Councilmember Curren D. Price Jr. provided a breakdown of the allocation of the proposed budget in a public statement. A majority of the funds were used to address the homelessness crisis in L.A., with $250 million spent on the Inside Safe program.
Price also serves as the vice chair of the Budget, Finance and Innovation Committee of the City Council.
The purpose of the Inside Safe program is to decrease the number of homeless encampments in L.A. and provide stable shelters for homeless people, according to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. The Inside Safe program has been funded primarily by money from taxes since its establishment in 2023.
Ron Galperin, the city controller of Los Angeles from 2013 to 2022, commented in an interview with the Daily Trojan that the economy is dynamic, and unexpected changes are one of the main challenges when creating a budget.
During his time in office, Galperin launched Control Panel L.A., an online platform that allows the public to view the city’s payroll, checkbook, city funds and revenue. Galperin said that the transparency of funding reports to the public is a key aspect of democracy.
Sabrina Soto, a sophomore majoring in linguistics, said she thinks the district’s funding should be primarily allocated toward academic programs within the community.
“I’m particularly passionate about public education and extracurricular programs, anything to advance disadvantaged children’s experiences before getting to college, so anything that could fund that would be great,” Soto said.
Laila Ahmad, a junior majoring in biomedical engineering, said she believed that funding should be allocated toward student housing projects.
Although funding sources are allocated toward projects around the L.A. area, the 2023 spending report shows what Mejia identified as areas of concern, specifically the slowing rate at which revenue is growing each year. Revenues exceeded expenditures by $3.4 billion in fiscal year 2022 compared to $2.1 billion in fiscal year 2023.
“Not only has revenue growth slowed, it is falling far short of the optimistic projections contained in this year’s adopted budget,” Mejia wrote in a 2023 statement.
According to Mejia, the declining revenue growth rate could be attributed to understaffing and a lack of adequate equipment, which delayed infrastructure and public service projects.
“The City continues to fall behind — which means even higher costs in the long run,” Mejia wrote.
Business-related activities and governmental activities received most of the funding allocations. The governmental activities included funding dedicated toward public works, health and sanitation, and recreational services. The governmental activities consisted of funding for infrastructure, which totaled almost $10 billion — a 27% increase from fiscal year 2022.
In a statement, Mejia proposed specific plans, such as a Capital Improvement Program that he hopes will strengthen the city’s fiscal health in years to come. He called for a more strategic plan to allocate the city’s resources more efficiently and effectively.
“A transition to a two-year budget cycle would save enormous staff time, give greater opportunity for meaningful community participation, and allow for a more strategic approach to the City’s Finances,” Mejia wrote.
There are additional factors, besides direct funding, that can affect the city’s fiscal projections in the future. In a statement, Mejia disclosed that the unemployment rate in L.A. rose from 4.6% in fiscal year 2022 to 5.3% in fiscal year 2023.
“Government is a very complex organism, that nothing is necessarily what it seems at first, it’s complicated,” Galperin said. “It’s multi-layered. It’s fascinating. And it often takes a deep dive to know what it’s really about.”
