The news from Los Angeles City Hall has been pretty bleak the last few weeks.
Late last month, the City Administrative Office reported that the city has overspent by $288 million so far this year, with about half the overruns incurred by the police and fire departments. At the same time, the city has been taking in lower-than-expected taxes on property sales, hotel stays and business operations.
Due to these revenue shortfalls and unbudgeted spending, Mayor Bass and the City Council are expected to move forward with a plan to eliminate up to 2,000 vacant positions in the city bureaucracy while also hiking fees around the city, the LA Times reported.
According to the CAO report, the following construction-related city agencies all had double-digit vacancies at the end of 2023:
- LADBS, 16.8% vacancy
- Transportation, 19.2%
- Sanitation, 20.9%
- Bureau of Engineering, 22.3%
- City Planning, 23.1%
- Street Services, 27.2%
City officials say that eliminating those vacant positions won’t impact services since there isn’t a person providing services in these positions currently. However, current service rates are considerably slower than before the pandemic.
Not only are there fewer staffers now than there was just a few years ago, but a large percentage of the staffers who remain are less experienced staffers who were hired to replace veteran bureaucrats who took early retirement buyouts at the beginning of the pandemic.
Barring a sudden, unexpected infusion of cash in the upcoming city budget, don’t expect the key construction-related city agencies to increase their staff in the coming year.
