The 2020-21 budget was assembled under conditions unlike any this city has ever seen. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March devastated the local economy, resulting in a drastic reassessment of the city’s financial prospects for the coming year. In a matter of weeks, revenue predictions declined by hundreds of millions of dollars.  The city’s reserves, which the Budget & Finance Committee had prioritized and built up to record levels through hard work and sacrifice over the last eight years, were decimated in a few months.

For the past few days, my office has heard from Angelenos across the city regarding the Mayor's proposed budget. I appreciate all of those comments, and I welcome the public's engagement in fundamentally rethinking how government as a whole, and our city budget in particular, can best meet the needs of the people of Los Angeles.

Today’s budget presentation made clear that the City faces a financial challenge that is without precedent in our lifetime.  The COVID-19 crisis has caused massive economic disruption, and with it a drastic decline in city revenues.  Rapidly spiking unemployment, the shuttering of thousands of businesses and the virtually complete shutdown of tourism have led to a sudden and dramatic decline in city revenues from taxes on sales, business gross receipts, utility use, and hotel occupancy, among other things, that would have been unimaginable three months ago. 

LOS ANGELES – Councilmember Paul Krekorian is authorizing $200,000 in Arts Development Fees to theaters in Council District 2 to continue paying rent and operating expenses during the COIVD-19 pandemic. The theaters can begin applying early next week for the funds, which are being administered through the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

I've served as chair of the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee since 2012.  At that time the City was still reeling from the Great Recession, and our budget faced deficits of hundreds of millions of dollars.  Former mayor Richard Riordan even opined in the Wall Street Journal that Los Angeles would need to file bankruptcy by 2014.

The catastrophic loss of life from COVID-19 throughout our country and the world has been an immense tragedy that none of us will ever forget. Throughout the crisis, our Mayor and our Governor have shown tremendous leadership, which has been sorely lacking elsewhere in our national response.  Our "Safer at Home" policies unquestionably have saved countless lives here in Los Angeles.

After three weeks of budget meetings, input from 44 city departments and 173 public comments, my City Council colleagues and I just approved an $8.76 billion city budget for Fiscal Year 2016-2017. This is the city's fifth consecutive budget that I've had the pleasure to oversee as chair of the Budget and Finance Committee.

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles City's Budget Chair, Councilmember Paul Krekorian, presided over the city's first week of hearings to review, modify and finalize the city's proposed $8.76 billion fiscal year 2016-2017 budget. The committee took comments from the general public and spoke to the leaders of 33 city departments, including the departments of Planning, Transportation, Recreation and Park, in addition to the bureaus of Street Services, Street Lighting, Engineering, Sanitation and more. This is Krekorian's fifth consecutive year at the helm of the city budget process.

LOS ANGELES - This week, Mayor Eric Garcetti released the details of LA's 2016-2017 budget proposal. The $8.76 billion spending plan hopes to prioritize homelessness, safety and neighborhood service. 

LOS ANGELES - On Thursday, after three weeks of day-long budget meetings and exhaustive input from city departments and the public, the Los Angeles City Council approved an $8.6 billion balanced city budget for Fiscal Year 2015-2016, which begins July 1.