An after school program, an ambulance unit, city commissions, park maintenance, park security and arts and cultures programs are amid a host of services Santa Ana officials are considering slashing next fiscal year to balance their budget.
Officials in the heart of Orange County are grappling with closing what started off as a projected $19 million budget gap going into the summer – years before Measure X, a sales tax measure increase, is set to start expiring and decrease city revenue by tens of millions of dollars.
[Read: Santa Ana Faces $19 Million Budget Deficit if Cuts Aren’t Made]
City council members are expected to add a measure on the November ballot asking voters to maintain Measure X indefinitely as they try to quell their projected multi-million dollar deficit next fiscal year.
During a budget study session earlier this month, Councilwoman Thai Viet Phan said officials need to make “big cuts” as her colleagues vocalized their funding priorities.
“That’s the only thing we can do right now is we have to make big cuts to things that we do love and that we’ve supported because we have to make the numbers work,” she said at the May 5 city council meeting.
Councilmember Thai Viet Phan during her remarks at the May 20, 2025 Santa Ana City Council meeting
Her remarks came after city staff publicly told officials they are facing a smaller deficit than expected, with the initial projection dropping from $19 million down to a $13 million gap.
Alex Trinidad, the city’s finance director, said the deficit was dropped by keeping contracts flat, not funding equipment replacement and reducing the city’s expected contribution for the streetcar.
He added that staff has already identified $8.4 million in potential cuts and cost recovery measures to help alleviate the deficit including fee increases, defunding vacant positions, reducing part time staffing and reducing public work contracts – including park maintenance.
To view the full list of the $8.4 million proposed in cuts and cost recovery, click here.
“If the City Council were to agree with the balancing measures presented this evening, there will still be a remaining gap of approximately $4.7 million to address,” Trinidad said at the May 5 meeting. “Staff is seeking City Council’s direction on how to close the remaining deficit, including any preferences regarding potential program reductions.”
Councilwoman Jessie Lopez, who is running for state assembly, said the city’s in a tough financial spot, regardless of the lower projected deficit.
“This budget cycle is not going to be the only budget cycle that hard cuts are going to be made. I want to make sure that we’re making cuts where they make sense to make cuts without a massive impact to our families in this city,” she said.
Officials are expected to discuss how they could address the remaining $4.7 million deficit at another study session scheduled for Tuesday’s upcoming 5:30 p.m. city council meeting.
To view the full list of the remaining $4.7 million proposed in cuts and cost recovery, click here.
On The Chopping Block: What Could Get Slashed?
City Hall in Santa Ana, Calif. on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022. Credit: Zia Bella Blair
Phan said officials should consider cutting the Police Athletic and Activity League – an afterschool and outreach program for kids – and asked for an analysis of what the savings would look like if they cut the program at the upcoming Santa Anita and current Roosevelt locations.
“It hurts my heart because it was something that I really loved,” she said. “But we’re spending almost a million dollars for a very small number of residents, and those are the difficult cuts that we have to make.”
According to a staff report, the police athletic and activity league costs about $877,000 a year.
Councilman Johnathan Hernandez said while the police athletic and activity league is well received they should prioritize programs that reach more kids in the city amid the budget crisis.
“We need every single dollar to reach as many of the children that we can,” he said. “Maybe we can bring some of those services into parks and recreation.”
Lopez called for a per capita cost analysis of parks and recreation youth programming compared to the Police Athletic and Activity League.
“If a Parks and Rec after school program serves 50 kids at X-amount of dollars and a PAAL program serves a comparable number at a materially higher cost, that’s a relevant data point that this city council should have,” she said.
The Santa Ana City Council meeting on July 1, 2025. Credit: ERIKA TAYLOR, Voice of OC
According to a recent staff report, the Police Athletic and Activity League costs about $5,400 per child served.
Staff are recommending cutting a portion of the league by more than 50% – about $471,000 – eliminating the afterschool program and summer camp component that serves less than 90 kids while keeping the lunchtime fitness part that serves 2,200 kids.
The staff report did not include information about parks and recreation youth programming and Paul Eakins, a spokesman for the city, did not respond to questions about how much those programs cost and how many kids they serve.
In Santa Ana, about two-thirds of the cannabis tax revenue goes to fund youth services and programs as well as enforcement services like police staffing while the remaining one third remains goes to discretionary spending.
According to their draft budget for next fiscal year, recreation youth programs & services will get $143,000 from the cannabis tax revenue and about $180,000 will go to library youth programs and events.
Last year, city staff quietly returned a nearly $7 million state grant intended to provide after school and childcare services for 500 kids, arguing they had a lack of experience and resources to comply with health, safety and education regulations and pointing to the impending projected decrease of their sales tax measure as a barrier.
[Read: Why Did Santa Ana Officials Give Up a $7 Million Grant for Child Care?]
Trinidad said youth programs were one of the top five priorities residents said officials should fund in the city’s budget survey.
Park goers on a Saturday mid-afternoon on April 12, 2020 at Jermome park in Santa Ana. Credit: JULIE LEOPO, Voice of OC
Lopez also questioned the impacts of cutting nearly $1 million for park maintenance and about $333,000 for park security.
Staff said the reductions will mean losing one of their 24/7 full time park security guards and a reduction in mowing the parks, pest control and baseball infield maintenance.
Lopez said they should cut security at city hall, not the parks.
“This is a highly secured location. You have the federal building as well. You have the City Hall jail across the street. You have other county buildings here and so we can go without the security here that often are just walking and on their phone,” she said.
“Sometimes when they call (the police department), they don’t receive the support that they need, and so they are imperative to our parks in ensuring that we can maintain them right.”
Some officials also supported cutting the Historic Resources Commission and lumping it with the Planning Commission – a move that is expected to save the city tens of thousands of dollars.
Phan also voiced support for consolidating the Parks and Recreation commission as well as the Environment and Transportation Advisory commission with other committees and to get rid of the Personnel board.
It comes as city staff told officials earlier this year that many of their commissions are failing to meet due to a lack of quorum.
Staff are recommending eliminating the Parks and Recreation Commission and the Youth Commission and transitioning the responsibilities of the Arts and Culture commission to the Community Development Commission to save about $28,000.
City staff is also recommending cutting a 24-hour Ambulance unit to a 12-hour unit to save $250,000.
Mayor Valerie Amezcua said budget conversations are only going to get harder.
“It’s not an easy task for us to sit up here and have discussions about what we’d like to cut. We all want so many things for our city to make it beautiful and a great place to live and a safe place to live,” she said.
“But we don’t have that money.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org.
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