Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti presented his budget proposal for the city Monday. The proposal puts an emphasis on Los Angeles police and fire departments. Kim Baldonado reports live from City Hall for the NBC4 News at Noon on Monday, April 14, 2014.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti released a budget proposal Monday morning that focused on job growth, making neighborhoods more livable and a reform of the police and fire departments.
The proposal balanced a $242 million deficit the city is facing for the 2014-2015 year, in part by asking city employees to contribute more to their healthcare plans and not adjusting pay for cost-of-living expenses.
Garcetti also hopes to increase funding for the Los Angeles Police Department, which makes up nearly 44 percent of the general fund already. Most of the $28 million increase would go toward new technology for officers.
Firefighters would also see an increase in funding under Garcetti's budget.
"I'm proposing an $11 million increase in funding for the Fire Department," Garcetti said. "For the first time in five years we are hiring firefighters."
The announcement comes less than a month after Garcetti ordered a halt to what he described as a "fatally flawed" recruitment process.
