To get started, you can choose to sign-in, which will allow you to save your budget and send it to your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter, and to our office.

First up, you’ll see where the money to run the County comes from. Then, where it is spent. The County is different than the State or most cities – nearly 90% of our budget is spent for us through programs mandated by the Federal and State government. When you see [Provides Mandated Services and Programs] that means that the Federal or State governments mandate that the County provides some programs, which cannot be cut.

There are five major areas of spending, so five steps for you to follow. You can spend as much time as you like in each area. You’ll have a chance to make cuts in the departments which aren’t mandated – and see an example of what that cut could mean. Please note that for this model, we consolidated some line items under the CEO’s budget for simplicity and ease of understanding.

The tool will tally it up and you’ll see the results of your decisions. If you signed in, you can send it along to us – or get your friends to check it out.

We hope you’ll discover just how much Los Angeles County does across 4,084 miles and for over 10 million people. Good luck!

Welcome to ‘You Draft the County Budget’. This is your chance to advise Supervisor Don Knabe on where to alter the budget. When you’re done, you will be able to share your ideas with the Supervisor and your friends via Facebook and e-mail.

Knabe.com/draftthebudget (‘we,’ ‘us,’ ‘our’), administered by the office of Los Angeles

County Supervisor Don Knabe, provides information to people who visit our website (‘users’), www.knabe.com/draftthebudget.

Our Terms of Service provides important information about the content we provide on knabe.com/draftthebudget. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

The County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, and all affiliates, contractors and employees are not responsible or liable for any damages that may arise from any behavior or action on your part that violates the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Content

We make no warranties for the accuracy of our content and assume no liability for any error or omission in our content.

Content is provided for informational use only. Actual budget figures may update without notice or real-time updates on knabe.com/draftthebudget, and may not match budget figures on knabe.com/draftthebudget.

You acknowledge that we do not warrant that use of our content or services will not infringe on the rights of third parties. Please use this information only for the purposes outlined in this website. This information is meant for educational purposes only. We do not condone or support other usages that may violate the rights, safety or liabilities of Los Angeles County staff, contractors or third parties.

As a knabe.com/draftthebudget user, you agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless knabe.com/draftthebudget organizers including The County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, Smolarcorp, and each of their respective partners, employees, representatives, contractors from any and all claims and damages arising from or relating to any allegation regarding your use of knabe.com/kbudge, and knabe.com/draftthebudget’s use of any content or information provided to us by our website users.

knabe.com/draftthebudget contains hyperlinks to websites owned and operated by other people (third parties). knabe.com/draftthebudget is not responsible for their practices. We encourage you to review privacy policies and terms of service on any third party website you visit, including websites hyperlinked on knabe.com/draftthebudget. We do not endorse the content or information on any third-party web sites.

Feedback

We welcome your questions and suggestions! For questions or comments, please
contact us at aveis@lacbos.org or call (213) 974-4444.

Budget Tool Privacy Policy

Knabe.com/kbudge (‘we,’ ‘us,’ ‘our’), administered by the office of Los Angeles
County Supervisor Don Knabe, provides information to people who visit our website
(‘users’), www.knabe.com/draftthebudget.

Our Privacy Policy provides important information about the use and disclosure of any e-mail address you provide to us. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

The County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, and all
affiliates, contractors and employees are not responsible or liable for any damages
that may arise from any behavior or action on your part that violates the Terms of
Service and Privacy Policy.

What information does knabe.com/draftthebudget collect?

You can visit most knabe.com/draftthebudget pages without providing any personal
information to us.

knabe.com/draftthebudget gathers your e-mail address and password, if you choose
to provide your e-mail address and a password. If you provide your e-mail
address to us, your e-mail address will be retained by the office of Los Angeles
County Supervisor Don Knabe, for purposes of administering communications for
knabe.com/draftthebudget. E-mails regarding knabe.com/draftthebudget may come to the email
address you provide from the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe.
Your email will not be used for any other purpose and will not be given to any third
parties.

knabe.com/draftthebudget may also collect information through electronic tools that are
not visible to you. This includes the number of clicks or views of a web page, the
exit pages and the date and time of requests. This information is aggregated and
anonymous. The office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe may use this
aggregated information to study website usage patterns, such as the number of
web users, and which pages are most frequently visited. You acknowledge that this
information may be shared with office employees and relevant contractors. This
information is aggregated and it retains your anonymity. It does not identify you or
your IP address. You cannot be contacted using this information.

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knabe.com/draftthebudget does not sell, share or rent your personal information with non-affiliated companies except under the following circumstance: we may disclose
your personal information in response to queries of law or legal matters including
subpoenas, court orders, or court claims.
However, you acknowledge that no internet or e-mail transmission is completely
secure, and email sent to or from knabe.com/draftthebudget may not be secure.

Your choice to opt out

If you do not wish to receive any emails from knabe.com/draftthebudget, do not provide
your email address on knabe.com/draftthebudget. If you already provided your email
address and you wish to opt out, please contact aveis@lacbos.org or call (213) 974-4444.

Our contact information

If you have any questions you can contact us at:

Andrew Veis
Media & User Experience Manager
(213) 974-4444
Fax: (213) 626-6941
aveis@lacbos.org

About the Budget Tool

What’s your opinion of the Los Angeles County annual budget? In these hard times, what would you cut? What would you keep?

Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe created this unprecedented online tool – available 24 hours a day, anywhere you have online access – to help you understand the County budget process.

About Los Angeles County’s Budget

Los Angeles County’s net budget is approximately $23 billion per year and Los Angeles County serves more than 10 million people – more than are in the entire state of Michigan.

The County provides municipal services to unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County and it also provides additional services to the entire county area.

The County budget is different than the state or many city budgets because nearly 90% of our budget is “fixed” or must be used for certain programs mandated by the State and Federal governments. These costs cannot be changed from year to year. They include health and social services, the Public Defender, the District Attorney, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s office and more.

This budget tool is for ‘Flexible’ expenses only. Flexible expenses are 15.3% of Los Angeles County’s budget, or $3.695 billion. What would you cut? What would you keep?

To learn more about the county budget, download The County of Los Angeles Annual
Report (2009-2010) and the 2011-2012 Adopted Budget Report.