Headline Roundup • January 12th, 2025
Fact Check: Did Mayor Bass Cut the LAFD Budget?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
As the Los Angeles County wildfires continue, the claim that L.A. Mayor Karen Bass cut the city fire department's budget by roughly $17 million is fueling misleading reports.
Budget Was Cut? CNN (Lean Left bias), Fox News (Right), and others reported that Bass cut the LAFD budget and framed it as a key reason for the city's lack of fire preparedness.
Budget Went Up? The Los Angeles Daily News (Center) said the cut is a myth, citing a city councilman's office: "$76 million – intended to pay for fire department personnel – was placed in a fund separate from the fire department’s regular account when the budget was adopted because contract negotiations with department employees were still taking place at the time. As a result, if you just compare the LAFD’s budget last year to this year’s, it looks like it went down $23M. But that’s because when the budget was adopted last May or June, the city was still negotiating those new contracts."
Disputing the Councilman: Conversely, The Intercept (Left) reported that those funds “are not linked to increased staffing” and “have not yet been distributed.” A spokesperson for the city controller told The Intercept “the LAFD budget cuts last June included a reduction in sworn payroll, reduced funds for operating supplies, and the elimination of 58 positions.”
The Verdict: With the separate $76 million agreement, the fiscal year budget went up, but fire prevention capacity was apparently harmed by position cuts and overtime hours reductions. Many sources across the political spectrum are failing to explain this nuance. Continue to follow AllSides for updates on this story and other misleading narratives.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
Less than 12 hours after a massive fire began ripping through the Pacific Palisades on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Fire Department made a rare request. All LAFD firefighters, including those off-duty, were asked to phone in their availability. Stoked by high winds, the blaze was growing quickly, and the LAFD was already fighting a losing battle. Such a summons hadn’t been issued in nearly two decades.
Critics on social media have alleged that Mayor Karen Bass cut the city fire department’s budget by $23 million this year. The accusation has spread quickly, with many looking to cast blame for the devastating wildfires that have destroyed thousands of buildings in Los Angeles County this week and resulted in at least 4 deaths.
In her story on criticism’s of Mayor Bass during this crisis, reporter Linh Tat addressed the budget question.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass faced scorching criticism Wednesday as it was revealed she cut the city’s fire department budget by $17.6 million ahead of this week’s devastating fires — as she prioritized funds for its massive homeless population that largely went unspent, according to a report.
The cut was the second-largest in Bass’ 2024-25 fiscal budget, city figures show — and it wasn’t even the gutting she wanted.
If she’d had it her way, the LAFD budget would have been slashed by $23 million.
