The Cost of Restoring Order in Los Angeles
Pandemic lockdowns, retirements partly to blame for billion-dollar overtime costs.
Following a week of protests that have given way to rioting in Los Angeles, Open the Books is taking a look at the cost of restoring and maintaining order.
Already ravaged by wildfires earlier this year, the city is now dealing with violence toward law enforcement, incendiary devices, arson and more. And all of that is on the heels of years of seemingly endless, rolling Covid lockdowns under Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass. The latter had the effect of shrinking revenues and thus staffing levels across the city, putting Los Angeles – America’s second-most populous city – in a unique financial and logistical position as it faces a summer of more disorder.
A record-breaking era of overtime pay is likely to keep costs high as police, fire and other first responders carry out their duties.
The cost to taxpayers isn’t limited to California or Los Angeles, though. City officials have alternately declared the protests peaceful and claimed they had them well in hand, and then also admitted they were “out of control” and that the LAPD was “overwhelmed.” Regardless of the varying protestations and the outright legal and political battle being waged by Newsom, President Trump has taken control of the state’s National Guard to defend federal property and officers. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has allowed that it’s likely a 60-day investment with an accompanying $134 million price tag for federal taxpayers.
That’s all before we factor in the cost of duking it out in federal court as Newsom seeks to stop the President from utilizing the Guard.
The Overtime Epidemic
The City of Los Angeles is no stranger to excessive overtime pay. Open the Books reported last year that 20 city employees earned at least $300,000 in overtime pay in 2023. That’s before even factoring in their base salaries.
But overtime costs reached new heights in 2024, with the city spending a record $1.1 billion on extra hours. That’s enough money to pay off the city’s entire budget deficit. In overtime alone, five people earned more than the $400,000 salary we pay the President of the United States.
A revenue pinch amid Covid lockdowns led to a spate of early retirements that have exacerbated the need for extra-hours pay. And as the Los Angeles Police Department faces rioting, the force’s ranks are at their smallest in two decades—but the payroll is still growing.
Los Angeles Police Department
The LAPD spent $265.5 million on overtime, another record, in 2024. Prior to that, no police officer had ever earned more than $235,000 in overtime. Last year? It happened seven times. The pay raises Mayor Karen Bass gave police in 2023 — 13% over four years — were likely a contributing factor as overtime is calculated from base pay.
Detective Nathan Kouri took home a $404,875 overtime check. He made $603,887 in total when combined with his base salary. Thirty-five other police officers also had cash compensation of at least $400,000.
Payments like Kouri’s don’t just affect the city’s budget; they have prevented the police from doing their jobs properly for at least 15 years. In 2010, the LAPD ordered Kouri and several others to stop working for six weeks because they had no money left to pay their overtime salary. The LA Times reported, “The drain on homicide squads has hampered investigations … Detectives said their investigations are frequently put on hold while they take days off, delaying witness interviews and other potentially important leads. And, in the crucial first hours after a killing, several supervisors said they now dispatch fewer detectives to the crime scene.”
Today, the LA Times says the problem is worse than ever. The LAPD’s budget request predicts it will lose 150 cops next year, leaving 8,620 police officers — the smallest force since 1995.
Although staffing levels have dropped, payroll expenses have not. The LAPD’s 2020 payroll lists 14,902 employees making a total of $1.71 billion. In 2024, there were 12,617 employees making $1.73 billion.
Overtime Beyond the Cops
None of that means the problem is limited to the LAPD. There were 2,092 city workers who earned at least $100,000 in overtime in 2024, with firefighters and Department of Water & Power (LADWP) employees topping the list.
SIDENOTE: LADWP came under fire in March when historic wildfires spread across the Palisades and Altadena, and firefighters were confronted with empty hydrants. Read our Substack on that here.
Fire Battalion Chief Nicholas Ferrari made $644,456 of overtime and $905,060 in total in 2024. From 2021 to 2024, Ferrari took home over $2.5 million from the city.
Ricardo Pacheco, an electric distribution mechanic with the Water & Power department, made $425,632 in overtime.
The staffing shortages have existed for years but reached new heights after the Covid-19 pandemic. The most recent data from the city controller shows a 17.5% job vacancy rate as of December 2023, meaning one in six city positions were unfilled. The vacancy rate was only 11% before the pandemic, but more than 2,000 workers retired early in 2020 under a program meant to reduce the city payroll after the pandemic harmed revenues.
Dana Brown, head of the city’s personnel department, blamed the staff shortages on “archaic” civil service rules that often force applicants to wait six months or more during the hiring process. Police data supports that claim. The LAPD received 53% more job applications in 2024 than in 2022, but delays meant 9% fewer candidates received a background check from the city.
Overtime Boosts Rank-and-File Employees to Leadership Pay
Although staffing shortages mean rank-and-file employees are the highest earners, top officials are still doing well for themselves. Police Chief Jim McDonnell makes $450,000, $100,000 more than his predecessor and almost double the police chiefs in New York and Chicago.
Mayor Karen Bass made $328,394 last year.
Overall, there were 4,114 Los Angeles employees who outearned Gov. Newsom’s salary of $242,295.
CONCLUSION
Between draconian lockdowns, inefficient onboarding processes, and sky-high union-negotiated deals, Los Angeles is set to take a financial beating as it deploys officers and personnel to respond to the chaos.
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And this doesn’t even start to reflect the total cost to taxpayers.
If it’s anything like Illinois, this huge payout also gets factored into pensions. Which are then COLA’d.
I lived in a school district where the superintendent retired in a $300,000+ annual pension - at its inception 15 years ago.
And of course she was never evaluated based on student achievement.
This is why I don't approve of 'no tax on overtime'. I would support it if it were capped on those with total incomes MORE than $100K/year.