The Brief

Four months into the fiscal year, the city of Los Angeles has already overspent its budget by nearly $300 million, according to a report released this week by the City Administrative Officer.

The city is in “a particularly challenging financial position,” the report states, noting increased legal liability and labor costs across a number of departments.

L.A.'s reserve fund has dropped to 4% of revenues, according to the report. The city has a policy of keeping the fund at a minimum of 5%. If it drops below 2.75%, the council would need a two-thirds vote to withdraw money from it. That could threaten the city’s bond rating, which would increase the city’s borrowing costs.

“The warning alarms are appropriately going off,” said Bob Blumenfield, chair of the City Council Budget Committee. He said cuts in city services would likely be needed to address the problem in the $12.8 billion budget.

“We’re talking about slowing down the hiring, which has real impacts on services,” he said. “We’re talking about asking departments to absorb some of these deficits within their departments, which also has an impact on services.”

Where did the money go?

More than a third of the overspending is related to increased legal payouts to people who’ve sued the city. The city has overspent its liability claims account by $112 million — more than twice what was budgeted for the entire year.

“It’s pretty stunning to see how quickly we've blown through that money,” said Rob Quan of Unrig LA, a watchdog group.

Legal liabilities include court judgments and legal settlements involving police abuse or negligence, which accounts for 40% of all payouts, but also for things like traffic collisions involving city vehicles and slip and fall lawsuits involving buckled city sidewalks.

Blumenfield blamed the current legal climate on the rising costs of judgments and settlements.

“Juries — not just in Los Angeles, but across the nation — are coming back with much higher judgments and of course that has a ripple effect on the settlements,” he said.

He also said cases slowed by COVID’s impact on the courts are just now getting settled.

“The George Floyd cases are coming due,” said Blumenfield, referring to police abuse cases that occurred during massive street protests in 2020 following the murder of Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

Deferred maintenance has played a role, too. “Our sidewalks haven’t been getting better in the last several years, they’ve been getting worse, which means there are more trip and falls,” Blumenfield said.

He predicted legal payouts would be near $300 million by the end of the year.

How will the city cover costs?

The CAO has recommended borrowing up to $80 million to cover some of the legal costs. The move would help with the short term problem, but increase the city’s debt.

Blumenfield said service cuts would likely be necessary, too.

“There’s not a lot of fluff for departments to make cuts that they need to make without impacting services,” he said.

The report identified overspending in a wide range of departments. The Fire Department led the way with more than $90 million in overspending due largely to a new labor contract. Firefighters are getting an annual 3% increase to their base wages, totaling 12% by Fiscal Year 2027-28. They’ll also see a 5% annual increase to their health benefits.

The labor contract mirrored similar agreements with other city unions that the city signed last fiscal year. Each contract continues to weigh on the current budget.

Other departments that overspent include the city attorney ($25 million) police ($20 million) and transportation ($14 million). The rising cost of gasoline was among the reasons cited.

On the bright side, the CAO noted general fund revenue is up $54 million. But he cautioned city leaders against counting on revenues to continue to be higher than anticipated.

“Forecasts specific to the state and local economy predict subpar economic growth throughout 2024 and increasing unemployment with indicators not anticipated to improve until the end of 2025,” the report stated.

The City Council Budget, Finance and Innovation committee will consider the report at a meeting Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. You can view the committee's agenda and watch the meeting live here.

If you’ve noticed more wildlife visiting your yard in recent years — maybe digging up your vegetable garden or even drinking from your pool — you’re not alone.

A recent study from UCLA found that larger predators like mountain lions and bears are more likely to interact with humans and travel closer to population centers in drier years. To determine this, the researchers analyzed state data collected on reported property damage, nuisances, conflicts and sightings.

“It kind of runs the full gamut of how people interact with wildlife around their neighborhoods and their homes,” said UCLA postdoctoral researcher Kendall Calhoun, the lead author on the study.

It's not just P-22. Mountain lions across the whole state are forced to leave their habitats for survival.

(

Courtesy Kendall Calhoun

)

Different motivations for different animals

As you might expect, different animals might have different reasons for entering populated areas. But in large part, Calhoun said, it comes down to animals’ survival instincts.

The primary motivator for many herbivores is likely to be food. That’s because with less precipitation, there’s also less plant material for them to eat. (Don’t forget: even with all the rain we’ve had recently, much of Southern California is still in a drought.)

“ Deer and elk might be pushed to find those food resources in places that they normally wouldn't go, like agriculture, crops, things from people's yards, persimmons from your tree,” Calhoun said.

And as herbivores get pushed toward humans, the animals that prey on them are too. In fact, the species that saw the highest increases in clashes with humans were omnivores and carnivores, specifically mountain lions, coyotes, black bears and bobcats.

But even these animals have varying reasons for getting close to people.

“Mountain lions might be more inclined to look for supplemental food in livestock — that might be a sheep or a goat,” Calhoun said. “Black bears may be more willing to go into your trash to look for food to help supplement what they're missing in their resource-scarce natural areas.”

Meanwhile, animals of all kinds might enter a yard even when they have enough food to look for standing water.

About the data

Researchers analyzed data from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife that were reported over the last several years as part of a citizen science initiative.

One important caveat is that the researchers primarily looked at conflicts between wildlife and residents, and there may be differences in how these interactions are reported.

For example, you might not report a deer eating fruit from an overloaded tree as a nuisance, but even a peaceful black bear digging through your trash could raise alarm bells.

 "People also really value having wildlife living alongside them," Calhoun said. "It really is important for us to try to strike that balance where there's pros for both sides, without some of the negative interactions that come with living in close proximity with wildlife species."

Learn more about human-wildlife interactions

There’s more background on the research on UCLA’s website, and you can find the full study here.

You can also learn much more about interactions between humans and wildlife in LAist’s Imperfect Paradise podcast series, “Lions, Coyotes, & Bears.”

Low-cost internet service will soon roll out in parts of L.A. County at the end of this year, and organizers say eligible households can sign up for alerts when the service becomes available.

The service — a partnership between L.A. County and internet provider WeLink — is the latest project from the county’s “Delete the Divide,” an initiative meant to bridge the digital divide in underserved neighborhoods.

Major funding for the project comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, as well as a grant from the California Public Utilities Commission.

It’s badly needed

About 23%, or more than 20,000, households in the East L.A. and Boyle Heights area don’t have home internet, according to Delete the Divide.

The service will also soon be coming to South L.A., where more than 40,000 households were identified as lacking home internet.

What you need to know

There will be different plans available — including low-income, market-rate and small business options — at fixed prices. The low-cost plan will start at $25 per month for qualifying families. Those who don’t qualify could also purchase plans starting at $65 a month. Monthly rates are fixed until at least September 2027.

Every plan includes unlimited data, a router and parental controls.

Low-cost internet service will soon roll out in South L.A. at the end of this year.

(

Courtesy of L.A. County

)

Low-cost internet service will soon roll out in parts of East L.A. and Boyle Heights at the end of this year.

(

Courtesy of L.A. County

)

How it works 

WeLink will install a Wi-Fi router inside a home and a 4-inch radio on the roof to connect the household to the internet.

Interested households can sign up for updates and be notified by WeLink when service is available here.