Each number links to its source
Each figure links to the page or document it came from, with the date a person last checked it. Report any difference between a figure and its source. Corrections go through the same review as the original.
Method
How Tally LA counts
How each figure is collected and reviewed, the rule for what counts as a social program, and the standards the site follows.
The pipeline
From a government record to this page
Each figure on Tally LA follows the same steps. All figures are reviewed, and machine-drafted text is checked by a person before publication.
144 sources cited103 of them official government records24 sources tracked for freshness37 votes published, 1 held until their record is linked
The social-program rule
What counts as a social program
A written rule is applied the same way to every row. It is not decided case by case. The rule and the budget amounts under each part of it are below.
City of Los Angeles
A City payment counts as a social program when the department that made it has one of these words in its name, or when it goes to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Department budgets are FY 2026-27 (proposed).
| Rule matches | Department | Budget |
|---|---|---|
| "Housing" | Housing (LAHD) Affordable housing, rent stabilization and tenant protections, and many Measure ULA programs. | $125M |
| "Homeless" | No City department has this name. The term matches past department names and accounts. Most City homelessness money is in citywide accounts and LAHSA payments. | — |
| "Community Investment" | Community Investment for Families FamilySource Centers, domestic violence shelters and anti-poverty programs. | $81.6M |
| "Aging" | Had a FY 2025-26 budget but no separate FY 2026-27 amount in the proposed budget. Tally LA is confirming with the CAO where its programs moved. The rule still applies to payments under this name. | — |
| "Disability" | Department on Disability Accessibility compliance and services for residents with disabilities. | $6M |
| "Youth Development" | Had a FY 2025-26 budget but no separate FY 2026-27 amount in the proposed budget. Tally LA is confirming with the CAO where its programs moved. The rule still applies to payments under this name. | — |
| "Economic and Workforce Development" | Had a FY 2025-26 budget but no separate FY 2026-27 amount in the proposed budget. Tally LA is confirming with the CAO where its programs moved. The rule still applies to payments under this name. | — |
| "Civil and Human Rights" | No budget line loaded yet for this department. | — |
| Payee | Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority The joint City-County agency that contracts with shelter and outreach providers. | See Checkbook |
Most City housing money is not in a department budget. The House LA Fund (Measure ULA) has $1.02B in the FY 2026-27 proposed budget. Prop HHH, state grants and citywide homelessness accounts are also separate. Those are covered on the Measures and Homelessness pages.
Monthly payments under this rule appear on the Sources page after the first nightly import of Checkbook L.A.
LA County
County spending counts when its budget function is Public Assistance or Health and Sanitation, the two categories the County itself uses for social services and health.
Health & sanitation$17.49B total · $1.87B local money
County hospitals · Health Services (clinics and administration) · Mental Health · Public Health
Public assistance$12.56B total · $2.14B local money
Aging and Disabilities · Children and Family Services · Homeless Services and Housing · Military and Veterans Affairs · Public Social Services
"Local money" is net county cost, the part paid with the County's own revenue, mostly property tax. The rest is state and federal money for programs the County runs under their rules. County budget by department →
The rule is defined in one place in the code (core/ingest/importers.py). A change to it applies to every page and is recorded in the project's public history.
Standards
Rules we follow
These rules apply to every figure and page on the site.
A second person reviews each entry
The person who enters a number cannot publish it. A different person with reviewer permission opens the source, checks the figure and the explanation, and approves it. If a published number is edited, it is removed until it is reviewed again. All versions are kept, with a record of who changed what.
Official records come first
Votes come from the City Clerk's Official Action forms, the County's Statements of Proceedings and the Mayor's signed directives. News coverage and social media posts often appear first but are summaries. They are treated as claims, checked against the record, and the result is shown next to the vote.
A budget is not spending
A proposed budget, an adopted budget, a mid-year revision and actual spending are four different numbers. Each figure states which one it is, and they are not added together. Where a budget and the spending that followed are both public, they are shown side by side.
Missing data is marked
When a number is not published, the site says so and names where it should come from. Missing numbers are not estimated to complete a chart. A blank step on the money timeline or a missing dashboard on a measure's page means the information is not yet public.
Conflicting sources are both shown
Government reports, audits and news coverage sometimes give different figures for the same thing. Each is shown, with a note on which one is used and why.
Machine drafts are reviewed by people
Software is used to read long PDFs and to transcribe meetings that have no official transcript. Its output is labeled as machine-drafted, saved as a draft and checked against the source by a person before publication. A meeting summary must quote the transcript for each number in it.
Update schedules are checked
Each source is compared with its publisher's own schedule. A late monthly report is flagged on the Sources page. No LA government posts payments more often than monthly. The site checks every night, so new data appears the day it is released.
Receipt entries stay in the browser
The tax receipt runs in your browser. What you enter about rent, a car or income is not sent to Tally LA or stored.
No endorsements
Tally LA does not endorse or oppose candidates or ballot measures. For a measure on the ballot, the site describes what it would do, what it would raise, and what supporters and opponents say, in their terms. Tally LA is funded entirely by individuals. It does not accept money from any government it tracks, or from any party, candidate or ballot campaign. Supporters have no say over what is published. Who we are →
How numbers are reviewed
A staff editor enters or imports a number with a link to its source. A different person, a reviewer, checks it against that source and approves it before it is published. No one can approve their own entries.
Automated imports from official datasets (such as City payment records) are labeled as automated. Machine-drafted material, such as a machine transcript, must be checked and approved by a person and remains labeled as machine-made.
Each change is kept in an audit history that records the earlier value and who changed it.
Monthly spending updates
No LA government publishes its payments more often than monthly. The City Controller posts Checkbook L.A. about once a month. The County's open budget data updates less often. Tally LA checks each source every night, so new data appears the day it is published. The Sources page lists each publisher's last-updated date.
Votes happen weekly, but a vote does not move money that day. It authorizes spending. Money moves later, when accounts are funded, contracts are signed and bills are paid. The Money timeline page lists each step.
Developers can read the same published data from the open API at /api/ on the live server, or download the votes and approved amounts as spreadsheets.