Welcome to the Los Angeles County Budget!

You Draft the County Budget


Governments at all levels across the US are facing huge budget challenges. For years, Los Angeles County has been prudent in managing our budget, saving for the bad times in the good times. But the impact of the global economy is hitting us too.

To help you understand the County budget and where money is spent, we've designed this on-line tool to give you the basics. We have a budget over $23 billion so it's very complicated! But hopefully you will learn more about the services the County provides and the impact of cuts.
Start Drafting
as a Guest
 

How Does It Work?

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. Read More...
Where the Money Comes From
Let's start with how the County gets the money it needs to provide services. The chart below shows the major sources of revenue.



As you can see, the Federal and State governments give the County funds for the programs they mandate us to provide, such as foster care and some public safety services.

"Special Funds and Districts" is money that comes through the County but goes directly to a specific operation, such as the Fire Department or Libraries. You may see this broken out on your bill if you pay property taxes.

Local revenues include property and sales taxes.

When the economy is bad, as it has been over the last few years, the money coming in goes down, but the County must still provide the essential services that we all enjoy.

That's a quick look at the money coming in, now let's see where it gets distributed.