LA City DOT Annual Budget ($128M) and Key Spending Areas
August 30, 2012 Leave a comment
In early August 2012, LA City Department of Transportation General Manager Jaime De La Vega sent out email announcing the department’s annual report. Which seemed fantastic step towards sharing information on funding allocations and priorities at the DOT. However, once we opened the PDF – we were concerned to find in this 17 page report, no financials but only quotes from DOT staff on their perspective on why they enjoy working for the city.
We can appreciate their perspective and opinions but we are concerned about how we are unable to to better understand priorities and funding allocations in this critical department for a city close to 4 million people, with serious safety challenges on our streets: with a 1/3 of LA city street fatalities pedestrians (2008 FARS data). So far, the only budget document we have been able to track down regarding LA City DOT is the Mayor’s proposed Budget released in April 2012 – which begins to provide some big picture insight on the City’s Transportation Department and spending.
The City of LA Department of Transportation’s proposed budget for 2012-2013 includes a supplemental report which provides specifics on their key spending areas.
For the fiscal year 2012-2013, the DOT budget is $127.9M, with the majority distributed to parking and traffic services, from parking enforcement and traffic control ($51.8M) to traffic control devices ($23.0M) to parking operations support and adjudications ($13.4M).
2012-2013 Budget Distribution
The DOT receives most of its funding through the General Fund, with $78.7M coming directly from this expansive source. Other substantial sources of funds include the Traffic Safety Fund ($8.3M), Special Gas Tax Street Improvement Fund ($4.5M), Proposition C: Anti-Gridlock Transit Fund ($25.2M), and Proposition A: Local Transit Fund ($5.4M).
Do you know how we can better understand LA City’s transportation funding and allocations? We welcome help! Let us know if there is a better resource out there – we’re interested!
