Spending · Departments
What does each City department cost?
The City Controller's budget data records $9.35B in adopted budgets for 39 City departments in FY2026-27, and $8.51B spent by them in FY2025-26, the most recent complete fiscal year. Citywide accounts such as employee benefits, debt and liability claims are budgeted outside the departments and listed separately below. Each department has its own page.
Departments
In alphabetical order. Adopted budget for FY2026-27 (in progress); spending and final budget for FY2025-26; full-time employees with active status in pay year 2025. All funds, as the Controller's budget data files them under each department.
| Department | FY2026-27 adopted | FY2025-26 spent | Staff 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aging | — | $39.6M | 42 |
| Animal Services | $31.4M | $38.3M | 270 |
| Building and Safety | $552.5M | $418.5M | 889 |
| Cannabis Regulation | $31.0M | $22.9M | 47 |
| City Administrative Officer | $249.3M | $196.6M | 153 |
| City Attorney | $199.8M | $223.2M | 883 |
| City Clerk | $25.0M | $40.5M | 100 |
| City Council | $46.3M | $88.3M | 442 |
| City Ethics Commission | $14.5M | $23.7M | 42 |
| City Planning | $128.6M | $114.5M | 434 |
| City Tourism | $41.9M | $34.1M | 6 |
| Civil, Human Rights and Equity | $3.6M | $3.9M | 26 |
| Community Investment | $129.9M | $92.1M | 83 |
| Controller | $84.2M | $77.8M | 137 |
| Cultural Affairs | $53.1M | $52.5M | 71 |
| Disability | $6.2M | $5.8M | 27 |
| Economic and Workforce Development | — | $83.2M | 133 |
| El Pueblo de Los Angeles | $9.1M | $8.1M | 8 |
| Emergency Management | $4.9M | $11.4M | 28 |
| Emergency Operations Board | $748.9K | $2.7M | — |
| Employee Relations Board | $548.7K | $423.3K | 2 |
| Finance | $199.1M | $176.1M | 286 |
| Fire | $939.9M | $1.07B | 3,411 |
| General Services | $236.2M | $422.2M | 1,105 |
| Housing | $1.46B | $650.8M | 668 |
| Information Technology Agency | $105.0M | $91.7M | 314 |
| Library | $279.7M | $238.0M | 829 |
| Mayor | $32.9M | $80.8M | 220 |
| Neighborhood Empowerment | $7.5M | $6.8M | 34 |
| Personnel | $93.9M | $82.7M | 504 |
| Police | $2.12B | $2.06B | 9,912 |
| Public Accountability | $4.1M | $2.6M | 4 |
| Public Works – Board | $29.7M | $45.9M | 101 |
| Public Works – Contract Administration | $55.1M | $45.8M | 309 |
| Public Works – Engineering | $128.7M | $125.6M | 728 |
| Public Works – Sanitation | $452.9M | $403.8M | 2,604 |
| Public Works – Street Lighting | $49.4M | $51.2M | 274 |
| Public Works – Street Services | $193.4M | $176.0M | 995 |
| Recreation and Parks | $374.6M | $410.9M | 1,372 |
| Transportation | $900.5M | $729.0M | 1,247 |
| Youth Development | — | $2.3M | 11 |
| Zoo | $69.1M | $62.8M | 215 |
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A dash means the department has no figure for that year under its current name: the Department of Aging, Economic and Workforce Development and Youth Development were folded into the Community Investment Department in the 2026-27 adopted budget, and the Emergency Operations Board has no payroll records of its own. Spending can exceed the adopted budget when grants and transfers are added during the year; the final budget includes them. The City Administrative Officer's figures leave out the fund from which the City prepays its pension contributions, which the Controller files under that office (see the obligations page).
Departments with their own boards
The three proprietary departments (Water and Power, Airports and the Harbor) are funded by their own revenue, and the two retirement systems pay pensions from trust funds. Each adopts its budget through its own board, outside the City's adopted budget, so only staff are compared here.
| Department | Kind | Staff 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Airports | Proprietary | 2,713 |
| City Employees' Retirement System (LACERS) | Retirement system | 190 |
| Fire and Police Pensions | Retirement system | 113 |
| Harbor (Port of Los Angeles) | Proprietary | 851 |
| Water and Power | Proprietary | 13,272 |
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Non-departmental accounts
Citywide accounts the budget holds outside any department: employee benefits, debt payments, liability claims, transfers into special funds, reserves and utility bills. They have no department pages; where another page covers one, it is linked.
| Account | FY2026-27 adopted | FY2025-26 spent |
|---|---|---|
| Appropriations to Special Purpose FundsTransfers into the City's special funds | $3.04B | $3.61B |
| Capital Finance AdministrationPayments on lease-financed debt | $209.7M | $208.0M |
| Capital Improvement Expense ProgramCapital projects budgeted centrally | $18.0M | $14.6M |
| General City PurposesCitywide programs and memberships not assigned to a department | $475.3M | $170.1M |
| Human Resources BenefitsHealth, dental and other employee benefits | $1.00B | $1.48B |
| LeasingOffice and facility leases | $39.6M | $38.3M |
| Liability ClaimsSettlements and judgments | $205.4M | $197.8M |
| Non-Departmental GeneralTax and revenue anticipation notes and other citywide items | $2.28B | $4.22B |
| Petroleum ProductsFuel for City vehicles | $43.1M | $45.5M |
| Unappropriated BalanceMoney set aside for later appropriation | $201.4M | $0 |
| Water and ElectricityUtility bills for City facilities | $51.8M | $52.2M |
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Some of these accounts move money into funds that departments then spend (for example, transfers to the Library and Recreation and Parks funds), so department and non-departmental figures should not be added together into a City total. The 2026-27 budget page gives the City's own totals.
What this covers
- Budgets and spending come from the Controller's budget and expenditures data, staff from the Controller's payroll data. Each department page adds its payments to outside vendors, lawsuit payouts charged to it and the 311 requests assigned to it, where the records name it.
- The datasets spell department names differently and some have renamed departments; each department's page combines every name it has carried. The list is checked against the data itself.
- Departments are listed alphabetically, not ranked. Their sizes reflect what each is responsible for, and some departments' costs (benefits, pensions, liability claims) sit in the citywide accounts above.