XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.firefighters, alt.los-angeles
XPost: alt.politics.democrats.d

Before wildfires broke out across Los Angeles, the city's fire chief said
that budget cuts were hampering the department's ability to respond to emergencies, a department memo shows.

Funding for the city's fire department decreased by $17.6 million, or 2%, between the 2024-25 fiscal year and the 2023-24 fiscal year, according to
city budget documents. However, the city council in November approved a four-year $203 million contract with the firefighter's union to help boost wages and health benefits for staff, drawing from the budget's general
fund.

The budget cuts drew criticism as firefighters scrambled to contain the
ongoing fires.

In a Dec. 4 memo, LAFD Fire Chief Kristin Crowley wrote to the Board of
Fire Commissioners that the budget cuts "have adversely affected the Department's ability to maintain core operations."

Crowley said that a $7 million reduction in overtime hours "severely
limited the Department's capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond
to large-scale emergencies" and affected their capacity for brush
clearance inspections and residential inspections.

The cuts, Crowley wrote in a memo from July 2024, resulted from
eliminating 58 positions, adjusting sworn salary accounts, and removing one-time expenses. Some have pointed to the one-time expenses, such as the purchase of new breathing equipment for firefighters, a one reason why
there may have been a reduction in the current fiscal year's budget
compared to the year before.

When asked about the budget cuts at Thursday morning's press conference,
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said they did not impact the department's
ability to handle the ongoing fires.

"There were no reductions that were made that would have impacted the
situation that we were dealing with over the last couple of days," she
said. She also emphasized the additional funds the department was set to receive from the city's contract with the union. "The unprecedented wind
storm, wind at such ferocity that we haven't seen in years, is the context
in which we were dealing with this."

In an interview with CBS News' Norah O'Donnell, Crowley said that in
response to the $17.6 million cut, the department reduced non-essential responsibilities, but added that the reductions did limit their response
to the fires "to a certain factor."

"We did exactly what we could with what we had," Crowley said. "Something
that is significant as this particular fire, I would say we threw exactly
what we could with what we had."

The Board of Fire Commissioner's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. At the board's Dec. 17 meeting, its president
Genethia Hudley-Hayes acknowledged the funding and staffing issues.

"It is not unfair to say that we are in crisis mode within the Los Angeles
Fire Department," Hudley-Hayes said. "Anybody who knows a council person
really and truly needs to be either going to city council, talking to
their council person, talking in their neighborhood councils, doing
whatever they need to do because we really are at a crisis point."

Los Angeles Fire Department budget

Los Angeles Fire Department budget
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22
2022-23
2023-24
2024-25
660M
680M
700M
720M
740M
760M
780M
800M
820M
840M
860M
880M
$900M
Budget2022-23$783M
Budget2022-23$783M
BudgetExpenses
Data is not adjusted for inflation. FY 2023-24 expenses are estimated, and
FY 2024-25 expenses are not yet available.

The fire department overspent by an estimated $66.6 million in the 2023-24 fiscal year, this year's budget shows, with unbudgeted contracts, unused
sick time and overtime accounting for much of the overspending.

In a statement when the budget was approved, Bass said the city budget
acted as a "reset."

"This budget serves as a reset, in part by continuing to hire for critical positions including police officers and firefighters while eliminating
some of the department's vacant positions, thereby prioritizing our City
family over empty desks," Bass said.

While the fire department's budget was cut, the police department's budget increased by $125.9 million, a roughly 7% increase.

There are 28 fire departments in Los Angeles County in addition to the
city's fire department. All are responding to the ongoing fires, along
with firefighters from five additional states. Gov. Gavin Newsom activated California National Guard members to help battle the blazes, and the
Defense Department has also offered equipment and manpower to fight the
fires.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-wildfires-los-angeles-fire-chief- budget-cuts/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)