Spending · Checkbook

Where does the City's money go?

The City paid $2.52B to outside payees in FY2025-26, across 518,734 payments. So far in FY2026-27 (through Sep 9) it has paid $579.85M, against $419.50M at the same point of FY2025-26 (+38.2%).

Checkbook LA · Through Sep 9, 2026HistoryPayments to outside vendors for goods and services. Excludes payroll and benefits, debt, taxes, transfers to other governments, pension custody, and DWP, the airports and the harbor
$579.9MTo outside vendors · FY2026-27 to date (through Sep 9)
96,726Checks cleared
2,625Vendors paid
$5,995Average check

At the same point of FY2025-26, with payments dated through Sep 9, 2025: $419.5M across 96,574 checks. Dollars paid so far in FY2026-27: +38.2% against that.

Checkbook LA · Latest check posted Sep 9, 2026
What is counted
This is the Controller's checkbook, filtered to the City's discretionary spending on outside vendors, as the Controller publishes it (the dataset lists a monthly refresh; the date chip above shows the latest payment). Stripped out: the self-funded enterprises (Water & Power, Airports, Harbor), payroll and benefit insurers (health, dental, life), transfers and payments to other governments, debt, and pension custody. What's left — about a fifth of the raw checkbook — is the contracts and services the City chooses to buy with tax dollars, this fiscal year to date.

Month by month

Payments cleared each month

Current fiscal year · outside vendors only · last check September 9, 2026

Payments cleared each month, current fiscal year
MonthPaidChecks
July 2026$240,806,06940,693
August 2026 (so far)$276,123,35443,021
September 2026 (so far)$62,925,11613,012

Each bar is one month of cleared payments. The brass bars are the most recent months — still settling as late payments post (the checkbook lags ~2–3 weeks), so they read low by design, not because spending fell.

Checkbook LA · Latest check posted Sep 9, 2026
Explore

Where this year's money is going

The same current-year spending, three ways — by department, by vendor, and by category.

Checkbook LA · Updated Sep 22, 2026

Where it goes — by department

Top 15 departments this fiscal year · outside vendors only

Payments to outside vendors by department, current fiscal year
NamePaid
Non-departmental$218.6M
Transportation$57.8M
General Services$32.9M
City Clerk$30.4M
Police$26.9M
Recreation and Parks – Special Accounts$18.9M
Mayor$16.2M
Recreation and Parks$14.7M
Information Technology Agency$14.3M
Library$14.2M
Fire$11.9M
City Attorney$11.9M
Public Works – Street Services$11.2M
Community Investment$9.7M
City Administrative Officer$9.3M

“Non-departmental” is the checkbook's label for citywide accounts that sit outside any department (see non-departmental accounts).

Each department's budget, staff, vendors and lawsuit payouts are on its own page: City departments.

The ledger

Every check, searchable

96,726 payments cleared so far in FY2026-27 (96,574 at the same point of FY2025-26) — every one searchable, sortable, and filterable. It's filtered to outside-vendor payments — payroll, transfers, debt, and pension custody are stripped out, so each row is the City paying an outside party. Sort by amount to find the biggest checks; search a vendor to follow the money.

Checkbook LA · Updated Sep 22, 2026

Individual payments

The City's checkbook, payment by payment, as the Controller publishes it.

96,726 payments · Page 1 of 1,935

Date↓VendorAmountDepartment
September 9, 2026Single Room Occupancy Housing Corp$9,355Aging▼
September 9, 2026Kelly Spicers$3,635Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Kelly Spicers$1,905Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026US Bank$1,730Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Kelly Spicers$476Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Privacy-Animal Services$201Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Privacy-Animal Services$122Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026US Bank$111Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026US Bank$108Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$98Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$98Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$98Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$98Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$98Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$98Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$98Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$84Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$84Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$84Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$76Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$76Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$70Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$70Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$70Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Konica Minolta Business Solutions$70Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Privacy-Animal Services$55Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Privacy-Animal Services$55Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Privacy-Animal Services$51Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Privacy-Animal Services$40Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Privacy-Animal Services$20Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Privacy-Animal Services$20Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Privacy-Animal Services$20Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Privacy-Animal Services$20Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Privacy-Animal Services$20Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Privacy-Animal Services$20Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Privacy-Animal Services$20Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Privacy-Animal Services$20Animal Services▼
September 9, 2026Insight Public Sector Inc$246,996Building and Safety▼
September 9, 2026Buro Happold Consulting Engineers Inc$40,899Building and Safety▼
September 9, 2026Satwic Inc$13,440Building and Safety▼
September 9, 2026Commercial Programming Systems Inc$7,200Building and Safety▼
September 9, 2026Satwic Inc$1,664Building and Safety▼
September 9, 2026Insight Public Sector Inc$1,233Building and Safety▼
September 9, 2026Insight Public Sector Inc$1,233Building and Safety▼
September 9, 2026Insight Public Sector Inc$806Building and Safety▼
September 9, 2026Odp Business Solutions, LLC$466Building and Safety▼
September 9, 2026Odp Business Solutions, LLC$94Building and Safety▼
September 9, 2026Odp Business Solutions, LLC$83Building and Safety▼
September 9, 2026Odp Business Solutions, LLC$63Building and Safety▼
September 9, 2026Odp Business Solutions, LLC$59Building and Safety▼
Showing 1–50 of 96,726
1 / 1935
About this data

Every payment the City cleared this fiscal year, live from the Controller's checkbook (dataset pggv-e4fn on controllerdata.lacity.org). This view is filtered to outside-vendor spending — pension-fund custody, payroll and benefits, inter-agency transfers, and debt are excluded, leaving money paid to outside parties for goods and services. "Purpose" shows the City's internal payment codes, which are terse by nature.

For context

All checkbook payments by fiscal year

Every checkbook payment by fiscal year — all payment types included, so totals run higher than the fiduciary-excluded figures above.

All checkbook payments by fiscal year
Fiscal yearPaid
FY2017-18$10.7B
FY2018-19$10.9B
FY2019-20$10.9B
FY2020-21$11.1B
FY2021-22$9.9B
FY2022-23$12.0B
FY2023-24$11.3B
FY2024-25$13.2B
FY2025-26$14.2B
Checkbook LA · Updated Sep 22, 2026