Have you ever wondered why the City of LA’s budget keeps increasing while services keep declining? Even as spending continues to grow, the City is doing less and less when it comes to repaving roads, trimming trees and fixing broken sidewalks. What’s going on?

While there isn’t one simple answer, there does seem to be an overarching problem that needs to be addressed: The City of LA has a broken bureaucracy. The municipal government has a vast network of departments that don’t always work well together and often fail to monitor their own performance. When former Deputy Controller Rick Cole stepped down from his position, he called out the City’s “mind-numbing bureaucracy” and said, “Beneath the broken sidewalks is a broken system.”

While I don’t advocate reckless downsizing, the City of LA really needs to cut spending and increase efficiency. Rather than saying more, I recommend the following article from Crosstown that lays out some of the City’s worst failings. The author simplifies some issues, and could have provided more context, but overall, he’s right on. The City of LA is growing increasingly dysfunctional, and the folks at City Hall need to get their act together.

Los Angeles Is Spending More but Getting Less. A New Mayor Won’t Fix It