Thursday, April 16, 2026

County Budget Proposes $9.9 Million to Fix the Emergency System That Failed Altadena

Supervisor Barger, absent for Deputy Vargas’s funeral, issues written endorsement of county’s proposed $48.8 billion spending plan

Less than 16 months after evacuation failures cost 19 lives in Altadena, the county that oversees those alert systems is proposing to spend $9.9 million to overhaul them.

Los Angeles County’s recommended $48.8 billion budget for fiscal year 2026-27, presented to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, includes funding to expand the Office of Emergency Management by 44 positions — a step Acting Chief Executive Officer Joseph M. Nicchitta’s office described as part of a multi-year plan to rebuild the agency, which a landmark independent review found had only 37 staff members serving a county of 10 million people.

Fifth District Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena and was absent from Tuesday’s meeting to attend the funeral of Sheriff’s Deputy Levi Vargas, issued a written statement calling the investment “a meaningful step toward strengthening our emergency preparedness” that reflects “our commitment to implementing key improvements identified in the McChrystal Group After-Action Report — particularly in alerts, warnings, and evacuation coordination.”

Nicchitta framed the overall budget in starker terms. “LA County is currently in the eye of a hurricane,” he said in the county’s press release. The spending plan is 7% smaller than the current year’s, as the county braces for deep federal funding cuts and confronts a $4.8 billion liability stemming from more than 11,000 childhood sexual assault claims under Assembly Bill 218 — which county documents describe as the largest such settlement in American history. The budget sets aside $300 million toward that obligation.

Barger also cited the budget’s $1.08 billion in Measure A funding for homeless services — which her statement linked, according to her office, to wrap-around support for more than 32,500 permanent supportive housing units — and she expressed support for using Consumer Protection Settlement Funds to prosecute fraudulent AB 218 claims through the District Attorney’s office, calling it “essential to maintain the public’s trust.”

The Department of Health Services faces an estimated $662.2 million reduction in federal support; officials said the department will draw on reserves to cover the gap. No layoffs are planned among the county’s 115,885-member workforce. Public hearings begin May 6, with a final budget expected by June.

The McChrystal Group’s September 2025 report — commissioned after the Eaton Fire swept through Altadena on January 7, 2025 — found no single point of failure in the county’s response, but documented the 37-person emergency management office working with outdated systems and only four staff trained on a newly deployed alert platform when the fires ignited. The proposed 44-position expansion would more than double the agency’s capacity.