SAC BEE REPORT - Los Angeles County contains a quarter of the state's population and is home to the nation's second most populous city,
more than 80 smaller cities, a like number of school districts and literally hundreds of single-purpose districts providing fire protection, water, parks, recreation and other services.
The county itself and each of those entities has its own board, administrative superstructure and the power to extract fees and taxes and to borrow money.
Collectively, they probably disburse about $100 billion a year for one purpose or another.
That's big money in anyone's book, but the impact of Los Angeles' local governments goes beyond collecting and spending money.
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 51
Pub: June 25, 2013