OC Supes Seek To Raise Budget By $475 Million For 2023-24 Fiscal Year

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — Orange County supervisors Tuesday will consider approving a proposed $9.3 billion budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year, an increase of nearly $475 million from the $8.8 billion 2022-23 spending plan.

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 since the 2019-20 fiscal year 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 last month when the proposed budget was unveiled 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.

Engelby said the county is also looking "to repurpose one section of Juvenile Hall." Officials want to establish living quarters for some children exiting Juvenile Hall because some cannot return to their family or home, Engelby said.

Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley said she was especially interested in that proposal.

"I'm very excited about that," she said. "We can do all we can while they're in the system, give them training in trades or the culinary arts or get them through high school or college, but they have to go back to where they fell into the path of a life of crime we're just starting all over."

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 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.

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 provided under terms of the 1993 ballot measure Proposition 172. Of that funding, 80% goes to the sheriff's department and the rest to the District Attorney's Office. It represents a 2.5% increase compared to the previous fiscal year.

The county will receive about $2.5 million more from the state under terms of AB 109, the public safety realignment effort approved in 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.

Officials are also attempting to brace for a potential recession.

"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.

County officials encouraged residents to submit comments and questions about the annual budget through an online form at ceo.ocgov.com.