Every city in California is facing a deficit. San Fran and LA are in Doom Loops. LAUSD, San Fran, Fresno and other school districts are in economic trouble—and want massive bonds, a tax, to bail them out.
“Orange city council members could soon slash services and raise fees on residents under a new proposal to help balance a $19 million shortfall in their annual budget this year.
“We’ve never recovered from the recession, we kind of were just putting a bandaid on it,” City Manager Tom Kisela said at a budget study session on March 21.
“Now we’ve run out of bandaids and we’re still bleeding,” he said.”
The problem is the same everywhere in California. We are in trouble and government is not serious in fixing the problem.
City of Orange Faces $19 Million Budget Shortfall, Major Service Cuts Loom
BY NOAH BIESIADA, Voice of OC, 5/14/24 https://voiceofoc.org/2024/05/city-of-orange-faces-19-million-budget-shortfall-major-service-cuts-loom/
Orange city council members could soon slash services and raise fees on residents under a new proposal to help balance a $19 million shortfall in their annual budget this year.
“We’ve never recovered from the recession, we kind of were just putting a bandaid on it,” City Manager Tom Kisela said at a budget study session on March 21.
“Now we’ve run out of bandaids and we’re still bleeding,” he said.
The problem comes after a decade of largely ignoring the city’s financial troubles according to Kisela, who told city council members the city’s failure to develop new sources of revenue meant disaster for the budget.
Some of the proposed cuts include closing and selling the Taft Library, leaving 20 vacant police officer positions, reducing park cleanups and canceling special events like Movies in the Park or the 3rd of July celebration.
Kisela also warned that even if they moved forward with the proposed cuts the city would still be short around $2.3 million for their general fund, according to a report to the city council.
The proposed cuts were drawn up in a closed door committee made up of Mayor Dan Slater and Councilmembers Denis Bilodeau and John Gyllenhammer, none of whom returned requests for comment on Monday.
“The Committee directed all departments to propose budget and service reductions as well as any potential revenue enhancements for consideration,” Kisela wrote in his report. “Staff is seeking direction from the City Council on how to proceed to finalize the City’s FY25 budget.”
The new budget is slated to be adopted June 11.
Several other proposed changes to increase the city’s income include new paid parking in Old Towne Orange, new parking enforcement citations, more short term rental permits and new credit card fees for city services.
A citywide hiring freeze was not proposed on the cost-saving measures, after Kisela vigorously protested that suggestion at the March meeting.
“We can’t always rely on the employee’s back and that’s what we do consistently here,” Kisela said. “This challenging time we’re going into has got to be felt by everybody, not just the city employees … we’ve got to go all in.”
The city still has $23 million in reserves according to the 2023-24 fiscal budget, which could cover about 16% of the city’s general fund.
Reggie Mundekis, a local watchdog who lives in Orange, warned this is likely the first round of cuts unless the city finds new tax revenue.
“The city has continuing budget problems due to a lack of revenue, not too much spending,” Mundekis said in a Monday interview. “These cuts are this year’s cuts. Next year, there will be more cuts, and there will be more cuts after that, unless the revenue problem is fixed.”
Right now, it’s unclear if the city will move forward with new taxes, which would have to be approved by voters on the ballot.
Councilmembers Ariana Barrios and Jon Dumitru said it’s a much-needed discussion.
“There’s belt tightening and then there’s starvation. That’s where we’re at,” Barrios said in a Monday interview. “It’s time to grow up and do what needs to be done. A tax is the last thing I would’ve wanted but we at the very least have to have the conversation.”
Dumitru agreed, but also noted he was unwilling to discuss any cuts to the public safety budget on Tuesday night.
“I personally cannot believe I would ever have a discussion on the dais that rotates around defunding public safety in the city of Orange,” Dumitru said.
“Cutting the budget for ammunition for police officers, for God’s sake what’re we going to do?” he continued. “Give one bullet to each officer and have them hold it in their pocket?”
He noted that some of the other department’s cuts were going to be needed, and added that Tuesday’s council meeting should see some discussion around the possibility of tax increases.
“The first thing we have to look at is not a knee jerk ‘we need to find money’ reaction, it has to be data driven,” Dumitru said. “There are some cuts that are healthy, and some are just non-starters for me.”
