Earlier this year, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass negotiated a package of raises and benefits for tens of thousands of city workers – funds intended to address the rising cost of food, housing and other household expenses.
On Friday, the public got its first glimpse of the price of these employment contracts. City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo said in a 40-page analysis that planned wage agreements with the city’s civilian employee unions would add $316 million to the city’s budget next fiscal year, reaching more than a billion dollars per year by 2028.
The agreements – more than two dozen of them – go to the City Council for a final vote. The contracts have already been ratified by a collection of unions representing clerks, custodians, engineers, gardeners, librarians, mechanics and many other municipal workers.
For most of these employees, the contracts will cover a period that includes not only the 2026 mayoral election, in which Bass is expected to seek a second 4-year term, but also the hosting of the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. Over a five-year period, the contracts are expected to add $3.5 billion to new hire costs, Szabo said.
The city’s budget for the current fiscal year is about $13 billion.
Council President Paul Krekorian, who serves with Bass on the five-member negotiating committee, said the agreements will help the city retain existing workers and recruit new ones. At the same time, he said it would be difficult to pay workers “what they deserve” while providing exactly the same level of services.
“I don’t think serious cuts to services are necessary,” Krekorian said. “But I don’t want to take precedence over the budget process. Every budget process (…) is full of compromises.”
Bass did not immediately comment on Szabo’s report. In recent months, his team has defended the proposed wage increases, saying they would help city agencies retain workers during a severe labor shortage.
“Compensating municipal workers fairly so that they can earn a living wage is essential to ensuring that municipal services continue to be delivered with the increased quality and pace that we have implemented over the past year,” Bass spokesman Zach Seidl said last month.
Still, one longtime City Hall observer was alarmed by the numbers. Jack Humphreville, who volunteers with Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates, said he thinks the expected increase in personnel costs will mean “just more red ink” in the years to come.
“It’s going to create deficits, which will create a lot more pressure to raise revenues, either through taxes or through additional fees,” Humphreville said. “The money has to come from somewhere.”
The contracts will cover more than 33,000 municipal employees, about a third of whom are part-time employees.
Among those lining up to receive the raises are members of the Los Angeles City Union Coalition, made up of six unions. These groups would receive seven raises over five years, for a total salary increase of 24%, once capitalization is taken into account.
The wage agreements would raise the minimum wage for full-time and part-time city workers, setting it at $20 an hour this year and $25 by June 2026. Parental leave would double from six weeks at 12 weeks. become more lucrative.
Friday’s report comes amid a growing debate over city spending and what kinds of sacrifices will be necessary to ensure better pay for the city’s workforce.
Szabo recently called for eliminating 1,974 vacant positions, largely to free up money for pay raises not only for the city’s civilian employees but also for police officers.
Bass’s team has already endorsed the general concept of eliminating unfilled positions, saying some positions have been vacant for several years. City Comptroller Kenneth Mejia criticized the idea, saying such cuts would threaten the quality of city services.
Appearing during a virtual town hall on the budget on Thursday, Mejia said the positions should remain on the city’s books while remaining vacant for the time being.
In recent months, Mejia has taken aim at a new round of raises given to the city’s police officers, also negotiated by Bass. The deal is expected to add $384 million in personnel costs to the annual budget by 2027, or an additional $1 billion over a four-year period.
Chief Deputy Comptroller Rick Cole, a top aide to Mejia, said Friday that the city was on an “unsustainable fiscal path” because of rising statutory entitlements, overly optimistic revenue projections and increased costs created by police salary increases.
In an email, Cole declined to criticize the new round of raises for civilian workers, saying it would “not be fair” to raise police salaries and then deny similar raises to other employees.
“As such, salary increases for any employee will objectively increase costs to the city,” he said. “The City must therefore reallocate its budget to reflect the new reality. »
Upcoming increases will be particularly felt in the city’s general fund, which funds basic services such as police patrols, fire and paramedic responses, and parks and recreation programs.
The wage agreements are expected to increase general fund costs by $196 million in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, and by $311 million in the following fiscal year. By 2028, the additional annual general fund cost is expected to reach $623 million, according to Szabo’s report.
Bass is expected to release his next budget on April 22. In recent weeks, she promised that she would not eliminate any vacancies reserved for police officers, firefighters, garbage truck drivers or other “critical” public safety jobs.
David Green, president and executive director of Service Employees International Union Local 721, said he remains confident the city can afford the new round of wage increases. Bass and the council, he said, have already shown they are “setting budget goals with an eye toward the future.”
“City employees have earned their raises and the council is right to vote for them,” he said.
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