Orange County officials Wednesday released a proposed $10.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2026-27, down from the current year\u2019s $10.8 billion spending plan.<\/p>\n
The general fund budget, which offers the most flexibility, is projected at $5.2 billion, down from the current fiscal year\u2019s $5.4 billion. The remainder of the budget is generally restricted by law, limiting the county\u2019s ability to adjust how those funds are used.<\/p>\n
The expense of legal settlements from the Airport Fire continue to influence how officials budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of the reasons we\u2019re trying to be more careful and be more restrictive,\u201d Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner said.<\/p>\n
The county has a hiring freeze and department heads were asked to cut expenses by 5%. Changes in how the state is funding mental health and homeless outreach services are also affecting the budget, as are cuts to services from the federal government, Wagner said.<\/p>\n
Despite those head winds, it could have been worse, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll give budget staff kudos for that,\u201d Wagner said. \u201cThe department heads were looking for ways to make responsible budget decisions going forward in times of strained receipts and they\u2019ve done a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The county does not intend to lay off employees after 314 positions that were vacant have been deleted, Wagner said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s zero intent of pink slips,\u201d Wagner said. \u201cAt least as of right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to note we have made reductions, 5% across the board, including in board offices,\u201d Wagner added. \u201d \u2026 At the end of the day it\u2019s still balanced and we believe we will be able to continue serving the public at levels we have in the past. There will be some federal and state programs that will be cut and we\u2019re scrambling to save them, but the challenges are real and it\u2019s a responsible budget that staff has put forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
The county expects general purpose revenue of $1.3 billion, $63.6 million more than the current budget. That\u2019s mostly due to a $57.6 million increase in property taxes.<\/p>\n
The property tax increase is \u201cnowhere where it\u2019s been in the past,\u201d Wagner said.<\/p>\n
Officials expect 4.5% growth in general fund property tax revenue over the current fiscal year.<\/p>\n
The one-half cent public safety sales tax revenue is projected to be $439 million, which is a 2.7% increase, or $11.4 million, compared to this fiscal year.<\/p>\n
\u201cSadly, not a lot in the grand scheme of things,\u201d Wagner said.<\/p>\n
Prop. 172 sales tax revenue allots 80%, or $351.2 million to the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Department, and 20%, or $87.8 million to the District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n
Revenue from the state for \u201crealignment\u201d is projected at $890.6 million and includes $642.3 million for publics safety and social services, $237.4 million for health, mental health and social services and $10.9 million for juvenile justice. That revenue is down 5.7%, or $53.9 million over last year.<\/p>\n
Overall, the county is expected to spend $253.2 million less compared to this year.<\/p>\n
The supervisors will consider the proposed budget at their June 9 meeting. It should be voted on for final approval June 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Orange County officials Wednesday released a proposed $10.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2026-27, down from the current…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[135323,163,165,164,2076,166,8189,171,45228,6713],"class_list":["post-325304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-135323","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-budget","tag-county","tag-million","tag-orange","tag-projects","tag-spending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}