So, I’ve been seeing articles and even a bit of social media chatter trying to defend Mayor Bass, saying that she didn’t technically cut the budget for fire protection. They all point to an article on Politico, this one specifically:
www.audacy.com
So what’s the big deal? It’s an increase! But here’s the kicker. This is not something new, this is something that is routine. Case in point, here is the MOU for the aforementioned contract that covers 2024-2028:
And this is the MOU for 2019-2024:
In other words, the attempt to characterize the contract as a $50M increase for this year for fire protection is not just disingenuous, it’s an outright fucking lie and a feeble attempt at damage control. The city of Los Angeles renegotiates with the firefighter union every few years with regard to salaries, health care, etc like any other city does. The MOUs show the breakdown of pay schedules and everything. The latest contract is an increase, sure… but that is routine.
A better characterization is that it is a pay raise for union members. For example, in the 2019-2024 MOU, the pay schedule shows that for the lowest ranking unionized firefighter, they make $71,284 per year, with annual increases. In the 2024-2028 MOU, same position starts at $93,229 with annual increases.
Reviewing the budgets for Los Angeles, here is the amount allocated to fire protection starting with FY2018, which excludes the aforementioned contracts:
FY2018: $657M
FY2019: $676M
FY2020: $687M
FY2021: $732M
FY2022: $750M
FY2023: $781M
FY2024: $835M
FY2025: $814M
As you can see, there was no budget cut to fire protection when the contract was renegotiated back in 2019 for the firefighter union. The only cut is for this fiscal year, under Mayor Bass, and clearly at the protest of her fire chief. So kudos to the fire chief for trying to do what’s right. Knowing how budget negotiations go, her protests would have occurred all the way through the moment the budget was finalized, and then she started raising alarm bells after.
Long story short? You’ll find better journalistic investigation on Neogaf than fucking Politico, and all the other useless online news rags that just regurgitate a source without validating the content of the source. Hold your politicians accountable, and always verify what you are being told. They will look for any way they can to weasel out of accountability.
LA budgets are here: https://cao.lacity.gov/budget/
LA MOUs are here: https://cao.lacity.gov/mous/
LA Fire Chief’s Memo to the Mayor is here: https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2024/24-1600_rpt_bfc_12-17-24.pdf
Interesting! And yet, I smell bullshit, especially since the Los Angeles Fire Chief protested the budget cut and filed a report on 4 December, which was submitted to the Mayor’s office on 17 December. That $50M “increase” they are referencing is this:
L.A. City Council consider new contract for firefighters
The L.A. City Council Tuesday will consider a four-year, $203 million contract with the union representing its firefighters and fire captains.
www.audacy.com
So what’s the big deal? It’s an increase! But here’s the kicker. This is not something new, this is something that is routine. Case in point, here is the MOU for the aforementioned contract that covers 2024-2028:
And this is the MOU for 2019-2024:
In other words, the attempt to characterize the contract as a $50M increase for this year for fire protection is not just disingenuous, it’s an outright fucking lie and a feeble attempt at damage control. The city of Los Angeles renegotiates with the firefighter union every few years with regard to salaries, health care, etc like any other city does. The MOUs show the breakdown of pay schedules and everything. The latest contract is an increase, sure… but that is routine.
A better characterization is that it is a pay raise for union members. For example, in the 2019-2024 MOU, the pay schedule shows that for the lowest ranking unionized firefighter, they make $71,284 per year, with annual increases. In the 2024-2028 MOU, same position starts at $93,229 with annual increases.
Reviewing the budgets for Los Angeles, here is the amount allocated to fire protection starting with FY2018, which excludes the aforementioned contracts:
FY2018: $657M
FY2019: $676M
FY2020: $687M
FY2021: $732M
FY2022: $750M
FY2023: $781M
FY2024: $835M
FY2025: $814M
As you can see, there was no budget cut to fire protection when the contract was renegotiated back in 2019 for the firefighter union. The only cut is for this fiscal year, under Mayor Bass, and clearly at the protest of her fire chief. So kudos to the fire chief for trying to do what’s right. Knowing how budget negotiations go, her protests would have occurred all the way through the moment the budget was finalized, and then she started raising alarm bells after.
Long story short? You’ll find better journalistic investigation on Neogaf than fucking Politico, and all the other useless online news rags that just regurgitate a source without validating the content of the source. Hold your politicians accountable, and always verify what you are being told. They will look for any way they can to weasel out of accountability.
LA budgets are here: https://cao.lacity.gov/budget/
LA MOUs are here: https://cao.lacity.gov/mous/
LA Fire Chief’s Memo to the Mayor is here: https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2024/24-1600_rpt_bfc_12-17-24.pdf
