Liability payments have cost the City of L.A. an average of 35% more each year since 2022, a new city report shows, growing faster than other large cities like New York and Chicago.
The City Council asked the city attorney and city administrative officer to look into ways to reduce liability risks back in October 2024, and their findings were presented to the Budget and Finance Committee last week.
The full City Council received the report Wednesday and approved recommendations from the Budget and Finance Committee to do additional research on options to bring down costs. The options to be researched include obtaining liability insurance for the city, setting up incentives for departments to reduce their risk and improving the planning and oversight of liability costs.
City Controller Kenneth Mejia found in June that liability costs — bills from legal settlements or lawsuits where the city was found liable — totaled $287 million last fiscal year and were the primary reason for the city’s budget deficit. The biggest source of those costs is the LAPD, which racked up $152 million in liabilities, followed by $44 million from the Bureau of Street Services. The controller updates the city’s liability costs by department on a public dashboard…