Los Angeles mayor proposes slashing over 1,600 city jobs to close budget hole

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Monday proposed laying off more than 1,600 government workers in an attempt to close a nearly $1 billion budget gap amid a slumping economy while the city contends with the costly job of rebuilding a seaside neighborhood leveled in a January wildfire.

The prospect of chopping hundreds of government jobs comes as the latest unwelcome news for the first-term Democrat, who will stand for reelection next year.

In an address to the city council, Bass called the municipal workforce the “city’s greatest asset” but said cuts were needed as City Hall wrestles with uncertainty in Washington, higher costs for worker salaries and benefits, a slowing economy, and the daunting work of rebuilding the affluent Pacific Palisades community.

“We have a very difficult budget to balance,” Bass said. She called her decision to propose job cuts a “last resort.”

David Green, president of Service Employees