The death knoll for Los Angeles has clearly rung. The proverbial chickens have come home to roost in the City of The Angeles and Lotus Land.
On April 4, Los Angeles County reached a $4 billion agreement to settle nearly 7,000 sexual abuse claims that allegedly occurred in juvenile facilities since 1959, a 65-year period of negligence and indifference. The tentative agreement, which still needs the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors’ approval, far exceeds the $2.6 billion 2022 settlement with Boy Scouts of America, now renamed Scouts of America that was the largest aggregate sexual abuse settlement in U.S. history at the time. The current resolution would settle lawsuits filed by thousands of Los Angeles County residents who alleged they were mistreated and sexually abused in foster care and juvenile detention facilities. Because of the California law that took effect in 2020 which suspended the statute of limitations for childhood sex abuse, the plaintiffs were able to bring their cases forward. Last year, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay $800 million to victims of clergy sexual abuse, bringing the total payout to more than $1.5 billion.
Meanwhile the City of Los Angeles, a separate entity from the County, has its own financial nightmare. The latest revision of the budget showed a one billion shortfall. The deficit means the city’s already embattled Mayor Karen Bass will inevitably need to make cuts to departments and layoff city workers, Administrative Officer Matt Szabo told the City Council that “We are not looking at dozens or even hundreds of layoffs, but thousands,” Szabo’s dire prediction continued, “While layoffs may be necessary, it cannot and will not be the only solution. I can tell you that the mayor is absolutely committed to preserving as many jobs and city services as possible as we face these economic headwinds.”
The county already was in financial trouble as it faced potential federal funding cuts from the Trump administration, increased costs from the Eaton and Palisades fires and an uncertain economy. The county plans to pay for the settlement using money from reserve funds, the issuance of bonds and unspecified cuts to county departments. Financing will require annual payments totaling hundreds of millions of dollars through 2030 and substantial continuing annual payments through fiscal year 2050-51, as per the county’s news release. Officials warned that the payout would have “a significant impact” for years to come on the county’s finances — America’s largest by population, with almost 10 million residents and an annual budget of around $49 billion. As for the proposed bonds, good luck with that. Residents normally expect bond funding, if passed, to go toward new schools or hospitals, not to offset debt that sexual deviants made necessary. Los Angeles County, with its nearly 50% Hispanic population, 185+ languages spoken, broken K-12 school system, and high poverty level, cannot withstand the financial collapse that is coming its way. The cost of living is already 50% higher than the national average. Like the city administration, the much-needed budget layoffs there’s plenty of fat to cut: the nation’s largest county government has 117,086 budgeted employee positions, 38 County departments, and a $49.2 billion budget.
An insurmountable problem is the voters who continue to shoot themselves in the foot. They elected a proven failure, Bass, instead of Rick Caruso, a billionaire with an established successful track record. Bass favors open borders and Medi-Cal for illegal aliens, a policy that is bankrupting California’s healthcare. The latest update from Sacramento is that Medi-Cal, now that it has approved the state’s illegal alien population for coverage, is $6.5 million in the red. During her campaign, Bass vowed to reduce homelessness and encampments. But the brutal reality is that Los Angeles lost track of $2.3 billion earmarked for homeless programs. An audit of LAHSA the jointly mismanaged semi-autonomous City and County Homeless agency, that federal U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ordered and was completed by Alvarez & Marsal Public Sector Services, LLC. found that it was nearly impossible to quantify how Los Angeles City and County officials spent approximately $2.3 billion in funding meant to shelter, feed, and serve homeless people because of the incomplete and inaccurate manner the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) recorded and collected data.
Here’s the kicker: On April 1, Los Angeles’ sales tax increased from 9.50% to 9.75%. Proceeds from the bump, which unenlightened Bass voters approved 58%-42p%, will go toward, according to the Measure A text, “affordable housing, mental health and addiction treatment, and services to children, families, veterans, domestic violence survivors, seniors, and disabled people experiencing homelessness.” Maybe…or the money might disappear like earlier homeless funding has.
Only the most optimistic taxpayer would expect his higher outlay to help Los Angeles’ homeless. Too bad because LAHSA reported that homelessness has reached historic levels in Los Angeles. In 2023, seven homeless individuals died per day in Los Angeles, according to a separate Los Angeles County Department of Public Health report released on March 6. People experiencing homelessness were 4.5 times more likely to die than the county population, according to the county’s report. Tragically, the leading cause of death was a drug overdose. As the 100-year-old truism goes, people get the government they deserve. If Los Angeles voters want to watch their city and County deteriorate further with every passing year, keep electing incompetents.
The county’s claims board will consider the proposed settlement on Monday. If approved, it would be considered by the Board of Supervisors on April 29.
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