LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles City's Budget Chair, Councilmember Paul Krekorian, presided over the city's first week of hearings to review, modify and finalize the city's proposed $8.76 billion fiscal year 2016-2017 budget. The committee took comments from the general public and spoke to the leaders of 33 city departments, including the departments of Planning, Transportation, Recreation and Park, in addition to the bureaus of Street Services, Street Lighting, Engineering, Sanitation and more. This is Krekorian's fifth consecutive year at the helm of the city budget process."What I hope to achieve through these hearings is a strong, responsible budget that invests in public safety, sidewalk and street repair and other critical neighborhood services," said Krekorian. "We had some difficult years during the economic recession when our budget deficit skyrocketed and we had to reduce services. We're no longer on that precipice, but there is still much work to do. I want to make sure Los Angeles is on safe financial footing this year and in the future."
The budget hearings will continue on Monday and Tuesday, and as-needed through May 13. All meetings will be broadcast live on Channel 35 and can be streamed live or on-demand atwww.lacityview.org, listened to by calling (213) 621-CITY (2489) or (818) 904-9450 via "Council Phone" or by following live updates on twitter.com/paulkrekorian (@paulkrekorian).