A key committee of the Los Angeles City Council voted on Friday to cut the number of employees who mayor Karen Bass layoffs by more than half, bringing the total estimated to be 650.

The Council’s budget committee has taken measures to save over 1,000 jobs by taking a series of cost-cutting measures, such as hiring fewer police officers and funding the bass’ internal security program, which transfers homeless people to temporary or permanent housing.

Councilman Katy Yaroslavsky, chairman of the committee, said these and many other moves will help the city protect core services, including tree pruning, street repaving, street light restoration and sanitation teams, to address illegal dumping.

“We are looking for ways to save positions, not just for work purposes, but to make sure the department can still do what our constituents need them to do for the quality of life,” said Yaroslavsky, who represents part of the West Side.

The committee’s recommendations for the proposed 2025-26 budget will now go to the entire council, which is scheduled to be proposed on Thursday.

Councilman Eunisses Hernandez, who sat on the committee, expressed optimism after the vote.

"When we started this process, we were in very rough waters and the landscape was very different," said Hernandez, who represents part of the East Side. "Now there seems to be some light between the clouds."

As part of Friday's review, the Budget Committee voted to recommend a slowdown in LAPD's sworn in recruitment, which will leave 8,400 out of 8,400 officials on June 30, 2026. This is a 300 reduction from the current fiscal year, and the agency's decline is about 300 compared to 2020.

The Budget Committee also agreed to eliminate 42 emergency technicians from the fire department, a move opposed by interim fire chief Ronnie Villanueva, while also canceling the Bath plan for the new homeless unit within the agency.

Additionally, a five-person team recommended hiking on parking charge tables, which is expected to generate $14 million in the upcoming fiscal year.

Yaroslavsky said the changes approved by the Budget Commission on Friday would save the police department about 150 civilian workers.

Sharon TSO, chief legislative analyst for the Council, said she believes that by transferring workers to vacant city positions or institutions not affected by the budget crisis, such as Los Angeles World Airport and Los Angeles Port, will continue to find ways to reduce the number of layoffs.

"I think we will be able to really drop that number to less than 500," she told the committee.

Facing a shortage of nearly $1 billion, Bass released a proposed budget last month that calls for layoffs of about 1,600 employees, a quarter of which are civilian workers in LAPD. Some of the biggest reduction plans are conducted in agencies dealing with sanitation, repairs and maintenance of urban facilities.

Friday's review set the stage for many positions to remain intact, especially in the Urban Planning Department, which faces 115 layoffs. Kevin Keller, the agency's executive, said the committee found that funds could restore 100 of these positions.

“I know there are a lot of city workers tonight who are breathtaking tonight,” said Roy Samaan, president of the Association of Engineers and Architects, whose union represents employees in the Programs department.

The Los Angeles budget crisis is attributed to a number of factors, including rapidly rising legal spending, exceeding expected tax revenues and a set of pay raises for the city’s labor force, which is expected to add $250 million to the upcoming budget, which will take effect on July 1.

Beth and the Council have been hoping to convince the city union to offer financial benefits to help avoid more cuts. So far, no agreement has been reached.

On Friday, before the committee began its deliberations, Bass said she was optimistic about avoiding layoffs altogether. Meanwhile, she opposed the budget strategy, which allowed police to hire other jobs, calling it "Sophie's choice."

She said if LAPD slows down hiring, there will be fewer officers in the advance to host the World Cup next year.

"I won't accept my choice," she said.

In the final minutes of Friday’s five-hour meeting, council members conducted some last-minute restoration and identified additional funds for youth programs, tree trimming and fire department mechanics. Hernandez urged the committee to restore $1 million to represent Los Angeles, which provides legal defense for immigrants facing deportation or other law enforcement lawsuits, with a graffiti painting crew of $500,000.

Hernandez said the city needs to stand among immigration under severe federal crackdown. She made the removal of graffiti crucial for public safety in her area.

“Having graffiti down quickly will prevent more people from being shot and thus stop them from being killed,” she said.