Five highlights from Orange County’s $10.8 billion budget proposal

Orange County officials released their recommended budget for the upcoming fiscal year Wednesday, detailing a $10.8 billion plan that increases overall spending, shifts money to pay for potential liability settlements, and eliminates about 160 vacant positions.

Want to know more? The county has released the budget recommendations in full, along with a citizen’s guide to the budget.

Here are five initial takeaways from the hefty document.

It doesn’t reflect effects of the state or federal budgets — yet

The recommended budget doesn’t anticipate any negative impacts from Gov. Gavin Newsom's revised state budget proposal or local funding effects from the Trump administration’s policies.

However, the budget notes that any new unexpected effects will be assessed and included in the mid-year budget report in late January.

Vacant jobs will be cut

The recommended budget eliminates 163 vacant positions, but no current employees will be laid off.

The vacant job cuts primarily target the district attorney’s office (79 positions) and public defender’s office (43 positions), with smaller cuts to positions in the county assessor, auditor-controller and tax collector’s offices.

However, the county is also recommending adding 35 new limited-term, grant-funded positions in the district attorney’s office and for animal care and health services.

The county had already been in a hiring freeze since January, when interim County CEO Michelle Aguirre directed departments to cut spending over concerns of a budget shortfall.

A costly increase for liability claims

The recommended budget allocates $417 million for the Property and Casualty Risk Internal Service Fund, the division in charge of handling liability claims against the county. That’s a major increase over the current budget — which allocates just $43.7 million.

The increase is in response to claims against the county over the Airport Fire in September, which totaled around $400 million as of November. LAist previously reported on public records that show county accidentally started the fire when they failed to follow through on recommended precautions. Under the current plan, the money would be borrowed from the county’s Orange County Waste and Recycling Capital Project Fund and the Capital Project Fund.

Aguirre said the county still doesn’t have specific numbers for how much it will owe in settlement payouts, but that the increase to the fund would “provide flexibility” as they handle the fire-related claims through the year.

Property tax revenue growth stays steady

The county expects to receive $1.2 billion in revenue for the general purpose fund, which pays for most services, including the Sheriff’s Department, public libraries and parks. That’s a nearly 7% increase from the current budget. It’s driven by an expected $72.1 million bump in property tax revenues, which makes up the vast majority of this fund.

This increase, which the chief executive's office described as “moderate” growth, is slightly higher than the $48 million that officials originally anticipated for this year according to its long-term financial planning forecast.

The state of California has a formula for determining how much of a person’s property tax bill gets allocated to their city, county or school district. Under this formula, Orange County gets the lowest share of property tax out of all other California counties.

The Sheriff’s Department sees a budget cut, but more overtime

The Orange County Sheriff-Coroner’s Department, whose budget makes up about 20% of the county’s general fund, will see a small 2% decrease in the recommended budget, with $1.05 billion allocated for the upcoming fiscal year. However, it overspent its budget last year by an estimated $35 million.

An evaluation from the CEO’s office in April found that the Sheriff’s Department spent more than $20 million due to “higher than budgeted salaries and employee benefits, including overtime” and costs associated with the reopening of the James A. Musick county jail.

Aguirre noted that the Sheriff's Department includes $73 million budget for overtime in the current fiscal year, and that the recommendation would increase it to $77 million for the upcoming fiscal year.

How to get involved

The Orange County Board of Supervisors has to review the budget proposal, ask questions and hold discussions during public hearings. This is when the public can weigh in with their thoughts. Here’s what’s happening next:

Members of the public can learn more about the budget through two virtual budget workshops being offered on Thursday, May 29. The first one of the day takes place from 3 to 4 p.m. and the second from 6 to 7 p.m. You can get more information and register here.

The first public hearing for the budget will be at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, June 10. Meeting agendas will be posted here a few days ahead of time. You can also sign up to get notified by email when the meeting details get posted.

If you want to give a comment on the budget, you can attend the meeting and speak during the public comment period or submit a written comment through this online form.

After that, the Board is scheduled to adopt the budget (it needs a simple majority vote to pass) at its June 24 meeting.