Santa Ana\u2019s Measure X oversight committee has not met in seven months, though the citizen panel was legally mandated to review the spending of more than $82 million in taxpayer funds.<\/p>\n
Measure X, approved by voters in 2018<\/a>, added a 1.5% local sales tax to raise revenue for the city<\/a>, and the seven-member committee was created by the ordinance as an additional layer of oversight to advise the City Council \u201cin reviewing the annual revenue and expenditures.\u201d<\/p>\n Composed of Santa Ana residents appointed by council members from their respective wards, the committee has had three seats vacant, preventing it from meeting. The committee is expected to meet quarterly, but has not had a quorum since its September meeting. Two of the seats were vacant for even longer.<\/p>\n There needs to be a minimum of four members present to conduct business \u2014 meaning there was no quorum for its March budget recommendation session and December audit review. As a result, the committee did not publicly review the city\u2019s annual 2024-25 audit of the Measure X sales tax funds, which had generated $82.6 million in revenue that fiscal year, of which the city spent $73.2 million.<\/p>\n \u201cNormally, this report would include budget recommendations from the Measure X Citizen Oversight Committee,\u201d a city budget staff report released in April noted. \u201cThe committee has been unable to meet and develop recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n Measure X revenue i<\/a>s used by the city for a range of funding purposes, including paying toward public safety, including police overtime, homelessness services, park repairs and other improvements.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s slim pickings,\u201d Councilmember David Penaloza said of trying to find a resident from Ward 6 to appoint to his district\u2019s seat on the oversight committee, which was empty for roughly a year from March 2024 through March 2025, before he appointed a replacement later in 2025.<\/p>\n He said he couldn\u2019t find anyone interested after his previous commissioner resigned because she moved out of the city and no longer met the residency requirements.<\/p>\n Councilmember Thai Viet Phan\u2019s Ward 1 seat has been vacant for nearly two years, based on multiple meeting agendas from 2024 through 2026. She could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n \u201cAnytime we can provide an additional level of oversight, I\u2019m all in,\u201d said Penaloza, \u201cBut it would make more sense to have a commission if it was tied to a specific use of funds.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike other dedicated taxes, the sales tax funds generated by Measure X flow into the general fund, he said, which has left past commissioners frustrated that their suggestions carry no binding weight despite voters being promised oversight.<\/p>\n Previous cancellations, which span multiple years, also include meetings tied to required oversight functions, with at least seven meetings canceled from 2019 to 2026:<\/p>\n Jun 12, 2019 The cancellation notice posted for the March meeting said the committee is not scheduled to meet again until September.<\/p>\n That leaves roughly 10 months without budgetary oversight, with no clear indication why the quarterly committee is also skipping its June meeting.<\/p>\n Two recent unscheduled vacancies, reported by the city in special public notices, occurred just before the December and March meetings.<\/p>\n Tim Johnson, chair of the Measure X oversight committee, previously warned about the city creating a \u201cfiscal time bomb\u201d by approving expenditures that will outlast the revenue<\/a>. In the past, oversight committee members had also characterized Measure X as a \u201cfiscal Band-Aid\u201d that masked structural deficits without fixing them.<\/p>\n
\nJun 08, 2022
\nDec 14, 2022
\nJun 14, 2023
\nJun 11, 2025
\nDec 10, 2025
\nMar 11, 2026<\/p>\n