antins-labs LA City Open Budget Access Skill
This skill retrieves budget data from the City of Los Angeles Open Budget portal (https://openbudget.lacity.org).
Overview
The LA City Open Budget portal is a JavaScript-heavy dashboard that visualizes the city's operating budget. While the main site requires JavaScript execution to display data, it provides a clean JSON API that this skill uses to extract budget information.
Data Structure
The LA City budget is organized hierarchically:
- Citywide (org1) - The entire city budget
- Departments (org2) - Individual departments like Police, Fire, Recreation & Parks
- Programs (org3) - Programs within each department, like "Field Forces" or "Specialized Investigation"
- Appropriations - Line items within programs
Available Functions
get_years
Get available budget years.
await execute({
"function": "get_years",
"budget_type": "operating" # or "capital"
})
Returns a list of fiscal years with available budget data (currently 2010-2025).
get_departments
Get all departments with their budget totals for a specific year.
await execute({
"function": "get_departments",
"year": "2023",
"page": 0,
"limit": 50,
"sort_field": "total", # or "name"
"sort_order": "desc" # or "asc"
})
Returns department names, labels, and total budget amounts.
get_programs
Get programs within a specific department.
await execute({
"function": "get_programs",
"year": "2023",
"department": "Police"
})
Returns programs within the specified department with their budget totals.
get_appropriations
Get appropriations (line items) within a specific program.
await execute({
"function": "get_appropriations",
"year": "2023",
"department": "Police",
"program": "Field Forces"
})
Returns detailed appropriations with descriptions and amounts.
get_budget_total
Get the total budget amount for a specific level.
# Citywide total
await execute({
"function": "get_budget_total",
"year": "2023",
"level": "org1"
})
# Department total
await execute({
"function": "get_budget_total",
"year": "2023",
"level": "org2",
"department": "Police"
})
# Program total
await execute({
"function": "get_budget_total",
"year": "2023",
"level": "org3",
"department": "Police",
"program": "Field Forces"
})
Returns the total budget amount with formatted display value.
get_fund_sources
Get funding source breakdown for a budget level.
await execute({
"function": "get_fund_sources",
"year": "2023",
"level": "org1"
})
Returns a list of funds (e.g., "General Fund", "Special Funds") with amounts and percentages.
get_historical
Get historical budget data across multiple years.
# All departments over time
await execute({
"function": "get_historical",
"year": "2023", # Reference year
"level": "org1"
})
# Single department over time
await execute({
"function": "get_historical",
"year": "2023",
"level": "org2",
"department": "Police"
})
Returns budget totals for each fiscal year available, enabling trend analysis.
get_entity_counts
Get counts of child entities at a level.
await execute({
"function": "get_entity_counts",
"year": "2023",
"level": "org2",
"department": "Police"
})
Returns counts like the number of programs in a department or appropriations in a program.
search_entities
Search for budget entities across departments, programs, and funds.
# Search all
await execute({
"function": "search_entities",
"query": "police"
})
# Filter by type
await execute({
"function": "search_entities",
"entity_type": "org1" # or "org2" or "fund"
})
# Filter by year
await execute({
"function": "search_entities",
"query": "police",
"year": "2023"
})
Returns matching entities with their types and years of availability.
Example Use Cases
Compare department budgets
# Get 2023 departments sorted by total
result = await execute({
"function": "get_departments",
"year": "2023",
"sort_field": "total",
"sort_order": "desc",
"limit": 10
})
# Top departments
for dept in result["data"]["entities"]:
print(f"{dept['label']}: ${dept['total']:,.0f}")
Track Police budget over time
# Get historical data
result = await execute({
"function": "get_historical",
"year": "2023",
"level": "org2",
"department": "Police"
})
# Show trend
entity = result["data"]["entities"][0]
for year_data in entity["values"]:
print(f"{year_data['fiscal_year']}: ${year_data['value']:,.0f}")
Find largest funding sources
result = await execute({
"function": "get_fund_sources",
"year": "2023",
"level": "org1"
})
for fund in result["data"]["funds"][:5]:
print(f"{fund['fund']}: {fund['percentage']:.1f}%")
Notes
- Budget years are fiscal years (July 1 - June 30)
- Amounts are in whole dollars
- Some programs may have null totals (budget not allocated or classified differently)
- The API returns mostly operating budget data; capital budget data is limited
- Department and program names must match exactly (use search_entities to find correct names)