Tonight the Los Angeles City Council voted to approve a $7.1 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
Even in this economy, we are demonstrating our commitment to safe neighborhoods with a budget that allows for the hiring of 480 police officers, enough to fill the number of vacancies expected this year due to attrition.
This was a very tough budget year and we had to make some very tough decisions about how to prioritize our spending. We still have a lot of work to do to ensure that our budget stays on track throughout the year, but we are committed to working together to make fiscally responsible decisions for the city.