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OC releases recommended budget increase of nearly $475 million
Orange County May 26, 2023
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Orange County has released its proposed budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year, with the spending proposal up nearly $475 million from last year.
The county’s proposed annual spending plan is $9.3 billion, up from $8.8 billion during the current fiscal year. The general fund budget, which is the more flexible portion of the spending plan, is $4.9 billion. The rest is primarily spending mandated by law, giving county officials little ability to manipulate.
The budget will be the first in the past couple of years that does not include new state and federal funding related to the COVID-19 pandemic, but officials are still focusing on the build-out of its public health initiatives, stemming largely from efforts to reduce the homeless population.
“With the end of the state and federal emergencies related to COVID-19, the county continues its commitment to public health as it navigates lingering impacts from the pandemic, and the persistently high inflationary pressures placed on the economy,” Orange County CEO Frank Kim said in his annual statement on the recommended budget.
Kim Engelby, the county’s budget and finance director, told City News Service that the county expects to complete its spending of American Rescue Plan Act pandemic funding from the federal government by year’s end.
The county’s OC CARES initiative, which links five systems of public health in the county, is a major budgeting priority, Kim said.
Part of that will include plans “to repurpose one section of Juvenile Hall,” Engelby said.
Officials want to establish living quarters for some children exiting Juvenile Hall since some cannot return to their family or home, Engelby said.
Officials are also working on a “coordinated re-entry system” for adults leaving the county’s jails that will help the convicts get a job or learn a new trade to get them back on their feet and cut down recidivism, Engelby said. That is envisioned as a public-private partnership, she added.
Officials have budgeted $76 million for a youth transition center, which includes $25 million for housing, Engelby said.
The roots for the OC Cares initiative dates back to 2015, but it was accelerated as part of the efforts to address homelessness that came out of the federal court lawsuits. Engelby said they transitioned from waiting for residents to come to the county for services and instead focused on “meeting them where they are” in the field.
Another major initiative will be funding for green energy technology and sustainability.
“The county is pursuing various efforts aimed towards environmental sustainability and green technologies,” Kim said in his budget statement. “As part of these efforts, the county is focusing on reducing its carbon footprint and is developing a Green Infrastructure Plan that focuses on ongoing development of green infrastructure specifications and long-term operation and maintenance plans, which complies with various regulatory requirements and future drought and climate action needs.”
The county’s budgeted general purpose revenue is at $1 billion, $60.9 million more than last year’s budget. That is owed mostly to $63.7 million more expected in property tax revenue.
The county is projecting $432.7 million in revenue from Prop. 172, which is the primary source of money for public safety. Of that funding, 80% goes to the sheriff and the rest to the District Attorney. It represents a 2.5% increase compared to last year.
The county will receive about $2.5 million more from the state for AB 109, the so-called public safety realignment effort from 2011 to reduce prison overcrowding.
The county projects adding 23 more jobs in the upcoming budget. Most of those will be for public health initiatives.
But officials are also attempting to brace for a potential recession as the federal government attempts to slow inflation or a more draconian economic fallout from the debt-ceiling standoff in Congress.
“We do maintain healthy reserves,” Engelby said.
The county has $622 million in reserves, or about two months of operating revenue, and is projected to have $666 million saved up by the end of next fiscal year, she added.
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