The labor cuts would trim the work force paid from the city’s general fund by about 14 percent, although many of those positions are now vacant. Overall, Los Angeles has 46,000 workers, but 21,000 are paid from separate sources such as at the Department of Water and Power, which collects utility payments.

That wave of 6,500 is more like a trickle that will come over the course of the year and not all at once, with relatively ‘low-level’ parolees released early but still subject to search and drug tests at any time.