To get started, you can choose to sign-in, which will allow you to save your budget and send it to your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter, and to our office.

First up, you'll see where the money to run the County comes from. Then, where it is spent. The County is different than the State or most cities - nearly 90% of our budget is spent for us through programs mandated by the Federal and State government. When you see [Provides Mandated Services and Programs] that means that the Federal or State governments mandate that the County provides some programs, which cannot be cut.

There are five major areas of spending, so five steps for you to follow. You can spend as much time as you like in each area. You'll have a chance to make cuts in the departments which aren't mandated - and see an example of what that cut could mean. Please note that for this model, we consolidated some line items under the CEO's budget for simplicity and ease of understanding.

The tool will tally it up and you'll see the results of your decisions. If you signed in, you can send it along to us - or get your friends to check it out.

We hope you'll discover just how much Los Angeles County does across 4,084 miles and for over 10 million people. Good luck!