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Combine a city in a difficult financial environment with an unlimited guarantee for losses stemming from an Olympic and Paralympic Games in which it has little control over the private-sector organizing committee, and extreme irritation over what the organizing committee has promised so far on local procurement and you have a Friday motion from Los Angeles City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson.
The introduction noted:
“The delivery of the 2028 Games will require substantial City resources, including public safety, transportation, sanitation and other essential services that extend beyond the City’s normal operations. Ensuring that the City is fully reimbursed for these Enhanced City Resources, including costs at the time of delivery and infrastructure improvements requested by LA28 beyond what the City has already planned, is critical to protecting the City’s General Fund and maintaining fiscal responsibility.”
The motion itself included these financial conditions:
“I THEREFORE MOVE that the Council instruct the City Administrative Officer (CAO) and Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA), and request the City Attorney, to [finalize and present to Council within 14 days an Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement (ECRMA) between the City and the Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2028 (LA28) which advances financial protections for the City, which shall include the following:
● “a. LA28 shall reimburse the City for all Enhanced City Resources (ECR) exceeding the City’s ‘normal and customary’ operations required for and in direct support of the Games;”
● “b. Reimbursement shall include the costs of ECR at the time of delivery;”
● “c. LA28 shall reimburse the City for all LA28-requested infrastructure improvements beyond the normal and customary responsibilities of the City;”
● “e. A payment schedule shall be established to provide advanced payment to the City for estimated costs of ECR based on when the costs are anticipated to be incurred.”
The final paragraph added:
“I FURTHER MOVE that the Council instruct the CAO and CLA to negotiate an amendment to the Games Agreement to ensure LA28’s contingency funds are available for ECR expenditures incurred by the City that are not reimbursed by any relevant entities, prior to those contingency funds being declared Surplus and disbursed to any Legacy Entity.”
The last addition responds to a memorandum from City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto, who wrote to the Council last month that “The ECRMA as drafted by LA28 limits the obligation to reimburse City costs before LA28 is permitted to create its own legacy fund with the surplus.”
Responding to LA28’s negotiating position, Council member Monica Rodriguez introduced a motion last Wednesday to codify that the City be reimbursed by LA28 to the extent of any funds available:
“I THEREFORE MOVE that the City Council instruct the Chief Legislative Analyst, in coordination with the City Administrative Officer and the City Attorney, to prepare language for establishing a new section within the City Charter through the ongoing Charter reform process that codifies a ‘Zero-Cost Principle for the LA28 Games,’ ensuring that the City shall not incur unreimbursed costs associated with hosting the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games and no Legacy Fund shall be established until the City is reimbursed.”
Conveniently, the Los Angeles City Charter is undergoing a revision process right now. The Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement was supposed to have been completed by 1 October 2025, but is overdue.
Harris-Dawson’s motion would add an advanced funding and payment schedule to the requirement that LA28 pay for the City’s Games-related costs, essentially in advance, instead of being reimbursed afterwards. The Games Agreement already calls for LA28 to set aside $270 million in funds in a specific fund to cover the City’s first bloc of liability for a Games deficit.
The worry from City Attorney Feldstein Soto mentioned specifically the 2028 Games costs for security, which are projected to be as much as $1 billion for the City and which LA28 has not committed to pay. Both the City and LA28 are expecting the U.S. Federal government to pay this cost and while talks are ongoing, a Federal commitment to cover the City’s security costs has not been made as yet. Further, while $1 billion in Federal funds for security for the Games was made in the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, no allocation has been included in the Trump Administration’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget plan.
The Harris-Dawson motion was seconded by Council members Ysabel Jurado and Traci Park and was forwarded to the Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, chaired by … Harris-Dawson.
No date for the next meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee has been announced.
Observed: The Council members are angry with the LA28 organizers on multiple fronts, not only on costs, but on guarantees of local spending in the organizing committee’s procurement plan, with the LA28 strategy document on human rights released but not yet discussed publicly.
Then there are ticket prices and the disclosure in the purchasing process of 24% in service fees, included in the overall prices paid by buyers. Time ran out in the Ad Hoc Committee meeting before that was discussed in depth, with Council member Katy Yaroslavsky stating briefly, “The tickets are not affordable. The 24 percent surcharge is not affordable” and asking why a City fee was not attached to help pay for City services.
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