A month before fires, L.A. fire chief warned budget cuts were hampering emergency response
CBSN
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 cuts, Crowley wrote in a memo from July 2024, resulted from eliminating 58 positions, adjusting sworn salary accounts, and removing one-time expenses.
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