Alex Villanueva discusses the local response to California’s devastating wildfires on ‘The Big Money Show.’
The Los Angeles budget is in the spotlight because more forest fires anger across the city amid revelations that Mayor Karen Bass slashed the fire department’s budget last year while prioritizing spending on the city’s homeless.
For the fiscal year 2023-2024. Los Angeles allocated $837 million to the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), which was roughly 65% of the $1.3 billion homeless budget.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass cut the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget by more than $17 million last year. It originally proposed a $23 million cut. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images/File)
An analysis last year by the LA City Comptroller found that roughly half of the homeless budget went unspent.
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From the budget for 2023-2024. by 2024-2025, the LAFD budget has been cut by more than $17 million from $837,191,237 to $819,637,423.
Firefighters battle winds and flames as homes burn in Malibu, California, along the Pacific Coast Highway near Carbon Canyon Road on Wednesday. (David Crane/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)
Bass proposed a larger budget cut for the LAFD, about $23 million, but it was not passed.
FOX Business has reached out to Bass’ office for comment on the reasons for the cuts.
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The homeless budget was also cut in the 2024-25 budget, but remained higher than the LAFD budget.
Homeless tents are seen on the Skid Row sidewalk in Los Angeles on August 16, 2023. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
Los Angeles is currently at the center of four ongoing wildfires — Eaton, Palisades, Woodley and Hurst — that have consumed countless homes and jobs and took two lives.
Unrelenting wildfires in Southern California. (Fox News)
The fires have prompted evacuation orders for more than 30,000 people, and the fires come as California faces a insurance crisis after several insurers fled the state, largely due to costs associated with fire losses.
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Of the 20 most destructive wildfires in California, seven occurred in the past five years, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported. In terms of economic cost, the 2018 Camp Fire caused $10 billion in damage, the 2017 Tubbs Fire cost $8.7 billion, and the 2018 Woolsey Fire cost $4.2 billion.
FOX News’ Anders Hagstrom and Kristen Altus contributed to this report.
