Fielder: Letter of Serious Concern about the 2025-26 proposed OC Budget

Open letter to the Orange County Board of Supervisors: 

We, the undersigned Orange County residents, find the county’s proposed budget for 2025-2026 to be an appalling array of amoral priorities. 

While the number one concern of a large majority of people is the crushing cost of housing and the growing rise in homelessness, the Board of Supervisors is about to approve a budget that gives approximately $2Billion, or almost one-fifth of the total budget, to “Public Protection” (the Sheriff’s Dept., the District Attorney’s Office, the jails, and Public Defender’s Office). Meanwhile, out of about $1.2Billion in Net County Cost (discretionary) funds, the county plans to, again, spend NOTHING on affordable housing. (Each Supervisor was provided with approximately $13Million for their own discretionary spending within their district, and a small portion of that is being used for rental assistance and similar housing related needs.) 

The county goes to great lengths to insist that 89% of its discretionary funds is “mandated” spending, as if there is no choice involved. The truth is that the SERVICES being funded are mandated (e.g., by state law, the county has to have a sheriff), but the AMOUNT of spending is not. Yes, the county is obligated to provide matching funds for some state or federal grants, but it was a CHOICE to apply for those grants. Apparently, the county has failed to pursue any housing-related grants that require matching funds in this year’s budget. 

According to the county’s own breakdown of discretionary spending categories, 53% is going to Public Protection, but only 17% is budgeted for Community Services, an unconscionable imbalance at best. However, what the county doesn’t reveal in its Citizen’s Guide to the 2025 – 2026 budget is that 40% of those Community Services funds will go to healthcare for the jail inmates. We want inmates to have healthcare, but it is disingenuous to classify this as a “Community Service.”  Accurately identifying those funds under Public Protection would reveal a more accurate and obscene 6-to-1 ratio of Public Protection to Community Service spending. 

To be fair, the Public Defender’s Office could be considered part of Community Services, rather than Public Protection. All OC communities would be served by giving more funds to the Public Defender’s Office so they can protect our most vulnerable residents, and undocumented immigrants. 

No Orange County resident should be forced to defend themselves against the federal immigration machine alone. Additional Padilla attorneys would also alleviate the workload of the current staff in the Public Defender’s office. With the ongoing U.S. Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids going on nonstop in Los Angeles County, Orange County, and San Diego County, it is outrageous and unacceptable that only one of our County Supervisors has spoken up in opposition to their tactics, given the fear, disruption and distrust this has generated throughout Orange County cities and county.  

To further highlight the immoral imbalances of this budget, consider the fact that the county spends only $0.52 per OC resident of its own $1.2+Billion in discretionary funds on housing, compared to over $113 per OC resident for the Sheriff’s Department and jails. 

We are not naive about the budget process. We expect the budget, in its current form, will be unanimously approved by the Board. What we hope to accomplish with this letter is to highlight the gross imbalances in OC’s discretionary spending, and to challenge everyone involved in the budgeting process to begin the process of shifting priorities from services that punish people to services that help people, more specifically, for Community Services that prioritize helping people get housed, remain housed, and afford their housing. 

Sincerely,  

Thomas Fielder, author of record

Co-signers

Pat Davis

David Duran

Eve Garrow

Karen Hernandez

Linda Lehnkering

Margaret Sharpe

Alice J Soto

John Underwood

Organizations

American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California

Housing is a Human Right Orange County

People’s Budget Orange County

People’s Homeless Task Force Orange County

Thomas Fielder has been a volunteer with Housing is a Human Right Orange County since 2018. He has lived in Orange County since 1980.

Opinions expressed in community opinion pieces belong to the authors and not Voice of OC.

Voice of OC is interested in hearing different perspectives and voices. If you want to weigh in on this issue or others please email opinions@voiceofoc.org.