The Brief

It’s that time of year, when city, county and state governments are discussing budgets for the fiscal year. While some cities in Orange County are scrambling at the end of the fiscal year looking to cut corners and tighten spending on city services, others are able to make forward projections. Fiscal years typically start on July 1 and end on June 30 of the following year. Budget forecasts determine how your tax dollars are spent: law enforcement, city facilities like libraries and parks, water and sewer service, resources for the unhoused, seniors and childcare. City budgets will also include federal and state funding sources.

Here’s a look at the proposed budget for Orange County and some of its cities:

County of Orange

The total county budget for the next fiscal year is $9.5 billion. Around $3.7 billion of that will go towards the county’s Social Services Agency, Health Care Agency, child support services and for awarding city contracts and grants. The General Purpose Revenue – with around 93% of revenue generated from property taxes in the county - will go towards public safety with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department receiving most of the funding. In 2023, the Board of Supervisors approved a pay increase for Orange County sheriff deputies. The OC Health Care Agency gets over $100 million from the General Purpose Revenue.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a budget shortfall in the state budget and this could affect the county, according to the proposed budget put together by county staffers. At the county level, the Public Defender’s Pilot Program could lose out on its last year of funding. The program was created by a state grant to help public defender offices that were understaffed with case backlog specifically related to those who were eligible for early release. County programs for housing could also see cuts along with cuts to funding that addresses drug overdose prevention and MediCal.

To learn about the County’s budget, click here.

Santa Ana

The city of Santa Ana is yet to release its budget for the upcoming fiscal year. But earlier this year, city officials sounded the alarm as revenue generated from the Measure X sales tax is set to reduce in 2029. Currently, the sales tax is responsible for 22% of the general fund budget.

Voters in the city approved Measure X in the 2018 election, where Santa Ana’s sales tax went up by 1.5%. That tax is set to reduce to 1% in 2029 with the city set to lose $30 million.

What could this mean for your city services? Funds generated from the sales tax goes towards emergency response services, street repairs and the upkeep of parks and senior services.

At a council meeting in April, city staff said projections show that since expenses are increasing faster than money coming in, Santa Ana could see a budget deficit next year.

Old Santa Ana City Hall.

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Eli Pousson, CC BY-SA 2.0

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Wikimedia Commons

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The city council is set to discuss and adopt the next fiscal year budget at the June 4 city council meeting. If you would like to weigh in, you can attend the council meeting in person or follow along online to provide your feedback via public comment.

To explore Santa Ana’s budget in detail: www.santa-ana.org/budget.

Orange

The city of Orange is looking at a $19.1 million budget deficit and is exploring cutting services or raising the costs of fees for city services. To save on costs, city staff have proposed either selling Taft Library or not filling vacant positions, and cutting down on park clean ups.

Currently, visitors to Old Towne Orange can park at the parking garages for free. However, with the city down on money, that could soon change too.

City leaders have not decided which measures to go ahead with it as the fiscal year looms and could potentially bring it up at the next council meeting slated for June 11. The agenda for the meeting is yet to be posted.

Westminster

In the current fiscal year set to end on June 30, Westminster is facing a $9 million deficit. That could be partly alleviated with voters in the March election approving the ballot measure Measure E, which will increase Westminster’s sales tax by 0.05%.

Revenue from the tax is projected to add $8 million to the city’s coffers every year.

The Asian Garden shopping mall, also known as Phước Lộc Thọ in Little Saigon.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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In 2016, voters in the city approved Measure SS raising the sales tax by 1%. Again in 2022, they approved a ballot measure to keep that 1% tax increase through March 31, 2043. If the measure had not passed in 2022, city staff had warned that Westminster could face bankruptcy.

Westminster is set to adopt the next fiscal year budget later in June. Staff reports show expected revenue to be $143 million while the expenditures are expected to be $147.3 million.

Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach has been involved in a range of litigation with the state of California including over state housing mandates and voter ID requirements. For the 2023/2024 fiscal year, Huntington Beach’s city attorney Michael Gates’ office oversaw around 95% of litigation in house.

In the fiscal year that will conclude on June 30, the budget allocation for the city attorney’s office increased by over 30% to over $3.7 million. For the proposed budget for the next fiscal year, the office is expected to see a 13% increase in budget to $4.2 million.

To learn more about Huntington Beach’s proposed budget, click here.

Anaheim

Anaheim is looking at a proposed budget of $2.3 billion, up 9% compared to the last fiscal year budget. The city continues to rely on the general fund for expenditures with the city expected to spend $490.9 million in the next fiscal year with over 60% of it going towards the police and fire department.

Majority of the funding for the general fund comes from a 15% tax that hotels, motels and short term rentals charge guests.

For the 2023/2024 fiscal year, the transient occupancy tax is projected to bring in the city over $256 million, a 14% increase from the previous and is the highest in Anaheim’s history. This is the first full fiscal year the tax is being collected since Measure J went into effect in January 2023. Under Measure J, online and travel booking companies are required to levy hotels, motels and short term rentals the transient occupancy tax based on the total amount a guest pays them. Previously, online and travel booking companies charged a flat tax fee agreed on with the hotels, motels and short term rentals.

Anaheim is slated to hold a public discussion on the proposed budget on June 11. For more information, click here.

Tustin

While Tustin sets its budget on a biennial basis, the fire in the North Hangar at the former Marine Corps Air Station has led to the finance director asking the city council to increase the revenue budget and allow payments related to the fire by a further $27 million.

Since the fire broke out last November, the city has spent $85 million to clean the debris, monitor air quality, sample air dust and soil and deconstruct the doors of the hangar, among other costs incurred.

The historic blimp hangar, at right, seen as it burned on Nov. 7, 2023.

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Jae C. Hong

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Associated Press

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“However, the true total fiscal impact on the City, County, and region remains unknown at this time and will continue to be assessed,” staff wrote in the report to the council.

The city has received $33.5 million in reimbursements from the Navy which owns the Hangar and is expected to receive a further $88 million.

For the last three years, the record store and music venue Healing Force of the Universe has been operating on a sleepy street corner not far from Pasadena City College. Nearby businesses include a shoe repair store, a nail salon and several auto shops.

“We're kind of in a dead corner,” owner Austin Manuel said. “No offense if anybody lives here, but not a very foot-trafficked area, kind of a hard place to have a store.”

In spite of the location, Manuel said Healing Force has become a home away from home for musicians and music fans. One of them is Bobby Bradford, a jazz trumpet legend who lost his house and personal archive in the Eaton Fire. He performs regularly at the venue. (Healing Force has also partnered with LAist on fire recovery events.)

Its current location is set to close this month, but Manuel and his team are already raising funds to cover a move to another space: G-Son Studios in Atwater Village. The repurposed ballroom was the Beastie Boys' home base when they recorded their classic albums Check Your Head and Ill Communication. Run-DMC and Biz Markie stopped by at one point, and Beck also laid down tracks for his album Odelay there.

Inside Healing Force's space in Pasadena.

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The vibe

Healing Force sells records, of course, but these days it’s more of a nighttime performance space. Manuel said he wants people to feel comfortable striking up conversations after a show.

“I grew up in the church in the South, and I was like, ‘How do I design this so that it feels like a Southern church lady could come in here and feel welcome?’" Manuel said. “ I didn't want it to be too cool.  I wanted it to feel kind of suburban in a way.”

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Though the name might call to mind a cult slogan — and Manuel said they lean into that aesthetic on purpose — it’s actually a reference to the 1970 album Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe by saxophonist Albert Ayler.

At the venue, “people can kind of get … into a meditative zone,” Manuel said. “After the [January 2025] fires, it felt so good to come back together in this room and feel the healing of community.”

Healing Force's stage setup.

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The performances

The shows Healing Force puts on share a common thread: They’re meant to promote peace and relaxation, as well as deep, careful listening on the hi-fi sound system. But they’re an eclectic mix of genres. On one night, you might see L.A. spiritual jazz band Phi-Psonics, who turned a residency at the venue into a live album, Expanding to One.

On another night, you might catch a spaced-out electronic set, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter or a group of session musicians who’ve played with the likes of Paul Simon, Elton John and Lucinda Williams.

About the fundraiser

With the new space on Glendale Boulevard, Manuel said, Healing Force would triple its capacity for concerts, get a bar space and be closer to other venues in Northeast L.A.

“If 1,000 people gave $25, we would get there,” Manuel said – though he also said most people have been giving more.

You can read more about the fundraiser and donate at Healing Force’s GoFundMe.

See the Pasadena space before it closes

The venue is still open at 1200 E. Walnut Street and is holding events through this Halloween weekend. You can see their events calendar on their website.

The racist DNA of Jim Crow discrimination may be embedded in your housing documents.

The language in housing documents that restricts sale or use of a property only to a person of the white race is called a “restrictive covenant,” and in California the practice goes back to the 19th century and continued into the mid-20th century. While housing discrimination persists, the practice was found unconstitutional in 1948.

California counties are reporting mixed progress in meeting the demands of a 2021 law to excise the language from property records.

According to Sylvia Manzo, deputy recorder in the Orange County Clerk-Recorder’s office, the county finished the job in March of this year, removing racist language from more than 27,000 property documents with the help of computer software.

This 1924 property document from Bakersfield includes racist language limiting use of the property in question to people of "the white or Caucasian race."

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L.A. County is far from done. It says that with the help of an outside company hired in 2024, 50 million pages will be examined yearly, which would take about 10 years to finish the job.

Public agencies could use the public’s help.

Language examples

Here’s a 1924 example from a property in Bakersfield. The text reads, “That the lands herein conveyed shall never, at any time, be sold to or rented to or occupied by any person not of the white or Caucasian race.”

Or this language from a 1936 document relating to a Costa Mesa property: “That said premises shall not be sold, conveyed, rented, or leased to, or occupied by any person of African, Mexican, or Asiatic descent.”

How to get it taken out

The Restrictive Covenant Modification Form is at the heart of the effort to remove the racist language from housing documents. Each county has its own process. Some charge a fee; others don’t. Some require a notary certification for the signature; others don’t.

L.A. County:

Registrar-Recorder officials recommend these steps:

• Highlight or underline the unlawful provision on the recorded document
• Complete the Restrictive Covenant Modification Form
• Submit the form and the recorded document by email: RCM@rrcc.lacounty.gov or in person at the Norwalk headquarters at 12400 Imperial Highway in Norwalk
• Mail instructions are here.

Orange County:

The Orange County spokesperson says there may be some properties not caught by its software and urges the public to report them. Here’s the form

Riverside County:

Here’s the Riverside County form

San Bernardino County:

Here’s the San Bernardino County form

San Diego County:

Here’s the San Diego County form

Santa Barbara County:

Here’s the Santa Barbara County form

Ignoring the racist language in property documents, some say, reinforces the legacy of segregation, while taking steps to remove restrictive covenant language is a way individuals and organizations can repudiate policies that sought to discriminate.