Six-figure salaries of lifeguards patrolling Los Angeles County's beaches revealed
Some of the county's 1,500 caretakers on the beach made up to $510,283, with nearly 100 more making as much as $200,000, according to transparency watchdogs Open The Books.
They're also able to collect exorbitant amounts of overtime, with one garnering upwards of $700,000 in just a five-year span.
In 2024, the left-leaning county paid out a total of $70.8million from taxpayers for the 134 highest paid lifeguards. Much like the city, Los Angeles County is also led by a majority-Democrat council.
The county's lifeguards don't just get paid to monitor swimmers on the beach, as many also help conduct maritime rescues and other emergency responses.
'Lifeguards who risk their lives protecting the public deserve to be well compensated, but paying them more than $500,000 may be unsettling to taxpayers who are drowning in debt,' John Hart, who made the report, told Fox News Digital.
'Once again, Los Angeles — a city that is struggling to extinguish fires and looting — is leading the way in lavish pay that needs to be addressed.'
DailyMail.com has reached out to a spokesperson for Los Angeles County for comment.
The report comes as California and Los Angeles specifically have faced devastating cuts to public services.
Three days ago, the county passed a new $47.9billion budget that required many departments to make three percent cuts.
'This is a different budget. It's reflective of us being in tough times,' Supervisor Janice Hahn told LAist.
Sheriff's Department, Public Works, Regional Planning, Mental Health and the Correctional Health Services Department were exempt from the austerity measures.
Property tax revenue from the state - which many have fled to avoid 'woke' political movements - has dropped from $450million in 2022-23 to $233.9million in 2025-26.
Home sales in Los Angeles County have gone down a shocking 41 percent since 2021.
'We are in uncharted territory with these simultaneous pressures on our budget,' Davenport said.
In January, Mayor Karen Bass demanded demanded her Fire Department make an extra $49million of budget cuts last week, a leaked memo revealed.
This cut is already on top of $17.6million of cuts in her latest budget.
The extra cuts, requested just days before fires broke out and devastated swathes of Los Angeles, would have shut down 16 fire stations and crippled the department's ability to respond to emergencies, sources said.
DailyMail.com interviewed current and former senior LAFD officers briefed on the shocking proposed cuts, and exclusively obtained the memo from an LA Fire Department (LAFD) whistleblower who posts on social media under the moniker 'LAFD Watchdog'.
The memo is dated January 6, only a day before the devastating Palisades Fire started.
According to the sources, it was sent from LAFD 'top brass' at City Hall to division chiefs and captains - after a fraught meeting the previous Friday between Chief Kristin Crowley and Mayor Bass.
'The LAFD is still going through a FY [financial year] 2024/2025 $48.8million budget reduction exercise with the CAO [City Attorney's Office],' the document said.
'The only way to provide a cost savings would be to close as many as 16 fire stations (not resources, fire stations); this equates to at least one fire station per City Council District.
'The details of this plan have not yet been developed. This is a worst-case scenario and is NOT happening yet.'
The sources briefed on the memo said Bass first made the demand for tens of millions from the cash-strapped department in a meeting with Chief Crowley on Friday.
'Bass wanted to cut even more,' one source briefed on the meeting said. 'They asked for $49million more on Friday last week. The Chief said 'We don't have it'. The Mayor said 'Find it'.'
Chief Crowley had already warned Bass last month that $17.6million of cuts the mayor successfully steered through a City Council vote had 'severely limited the department's capacity to prepare for, train for and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.'
Crowley wrote the warning in a December 4 memo first reported by NBC LA, highlighting the $7 million reduction in 'overtime variable staffing hours' it caused, which 'adversely affected the Department's ability to maintain core operations, such as [...] training, fire prevention, and community education.'
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