Today, Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger issued the following statement after the County’s Chief Executive Officer presented a $38.5 billion budget proposal to the Board of Supervisors.
“The recommended budget for fiscal year 2022-23 gets a number of things right. The $12M to fund an additional Sheriff’s academy is an investment in creating a new generation of deputies and protecting public safety. The $15.3M allocation to the Sheriff’s Department and our County’s Department of Health Services to meet our constitutional obligation to provide mental health services in our jails is a necessity. I was pleased to see both of these included in the budget.
I believe we must harness our County’s spending power and dedicate dollars to provide essential services and address the issues that impact the lives of our residents. I also believe in fiscal prudence. Our COVID-19 lived experience has taught us that we must be prepared at any given moment to meet urgent needs, protect lives and support public safety in an unpredictable world.
I look forward to working with our County executives and my fellow Supervisors to enhance this living budget document. Working collaboratively – that’s what makes a budget work.”
The recommended budget will continue to go through a process of input and refinement. It will be finalized and adopted by the Board of Supervisors in June with Final Budget adoption in October 2022. Find more information about the recommended budget proposal at ceo.lacounty.gov/budget.