Orange City Council has trouble focusing and staying on the task of making the City financially sound. The City has a structural deficit due to a lack of economic development to bring new businesses to the City. Other cities have grown sales tax and property tax revenues with new businesses and developments while Orange has not. The City has developed a bad reputation among the business development community, referred to as being “blacklisted”. This adds an additional high hurdle to restart economic development efforts
City services have been cut to balance the budget until more revenue starts coming in. Reserves had been used for several years to prop up the budget to prevent service cuts, aka not alerting residents that there is a problem. Reserves are now depleted and can’t be used to hide the problem anymore.
A temporary sales tax measure to provide money to restore service cuts and to rebuild reserves was placed on the 2024 ballot but did not pass. The plan has been to place a temporary sales tax measure on the 2026 ballot to keep the lights lit. City Council has mission critical tasks of bringing in more revenue, building a better business reputation for the City, and rebuilding reserves. These efforts must start now and may not pay off for years to come. The long time to produce results is just the way things are and cannot be an excuse for not doing the work.
During the first City Council meeting of 2026 a Councilmember stated the City needed to “grow up” and become a charter city to get out from under “Sacramento.” Using a charter city discussion as a distraction from pressing financial and structural problems is an example of not growing up. The statement is also insulting on multiple levels.
Charter cities have been claimed to have magical powers which allow the city to be a free floating island in the sea of California which can choose to not follow any state law or policy they choose to. That is not the case. Charter city Huntington Beach has been told by courts that they must comply with State housing laws and have an approved housing plan or risk fines. California Supreme Court did not take their case because the ruling by the lower court was correct. Huntington Beach also refuses to state how much money has been spent on this case. So much for the magical powers of charter cities.
A predictable pattern of behavior has emerged for charter cities challenging the State. Charter city status is used to flex regarding issues a city council has beefs with the State. Current beefs are development and conduct of elections. This flex causes the city to be taken to court because of overreach by the city. The city may win at the trial court level but then loses at the appellate and California Supreme Court levels because the issues are determined to be of statewide concern and not municipal concerns decided by city councils.
During the legal battle, Council members brag about how they are fighting the State. Money which should be used for services, roads, parks, libraries and more needs goes to lawyers. When the city loses, they blame the State while taxpayers have lost their money due to what their city council did. The total legal costs may not be disclosed because it is embarrassing to have spent money on a task which was known to be Sisyphean at the outset.
In the case of City of Orange, the barely break even budget will be harmed by money wasted on nonsense legal fights. Time will be spent on charter issues and not on working on restoring the City to sound financial health with higher revenues, restoring services, and rebuilding reserves. For some, the charter discussion and subsequent declaration of war can be a self-serving break from the reality of correcting past bad behaviors which have damaged the City. The City’s reputation will be further damaged by nonsense legal battles.
Adulting aka “growing up” is hard. Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do. One of those things is to be financially responsible which means making enough money to pay your bills while putting aside for a rainy day. Another is staying on task. Orange City Council needs to focus on bringing in more revenue, building a better business reputation for the City, and rebuilding reserves. Those tasks need time, attention, and patience as efforts may not pay off for years. The consequences of City Council failing in those tasks will be felt by residents for decades going forward. City Council must get back on task and stop being distracted. Time to focus in order to get results.
Reggie Mundekis lives in Orange where she attends City Council meetings on a regular basis and has her usual seat in the audience.
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