Orange City Council is big on saying how much they support and hold dear the public safety responders who work tirelessly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, regardless of holiday to provide critical law enforcement, fire protection, medical services, and other types of emergency response. These public safety responders make decisions which can change lives in short periods of time because they recognize the time is now for a decision. They ask questions, analyze information, and bring in additional resources when needed to get to the best outcome they can in a short time.
Orange has a structural deficit which can only be resolved by getting more cash flow into the City. Budget cuts and structural changes have been made but you cannot cut your way out of the situation and still be a viable competitive OC city. Discussion of the structural deficit started in 2025 and was the subject of a sales tax ballot measure which did not pass. Two budget meetings have occurred in 2026 to reiterate the continuing structural deficit and the need for more revenue to close the gap.
You may think that Orange City Council would be ready to meet the moment like the public safety responders they profess to hold dear. Swift action from a sales tax ballot measure would provide money for more public safety responders at better pay, among other needs. City Council could be like their heroes by rushing in to save people by making Orange into a solvent city.
Well, you thought wrong. The April 28 Orange City Council meeting showed Mayor Dan Slater and Councilmember Jon Dumitru meeting the moment by being ready to put a sales tax measure on the ballot. They alone are able to focus, analyze and respond appropriately. You can get confirmation about how out of touch and unserious this meeting was in Orange Holds Off on Sale Tax Measure Amid Looming Cuts to Public Safety.
Others found new ways to hide from responding to the crisis with a myriad of excuses. I will list some of the excuses for you.
- There are no financial problems. I have a spreadsheet to prove it. We think we have financial problems because we are just doing the math wrong.
- It is too early to discuss ballot measures because we have until July 2026 to get this done.
- A roadshow is needed to tell the residents we have financial problems.
- We need to be a charter city.
- Other taxes need to be discussed including a tax on vacant property, tax on large parking lots, and an increase in the hotel tax. And maybe there is something else we can put on the list to make it longer.
- Cannabis shops could be possible because they bring in revenue.
- A utility tax or franchise fee is needed.
- We need to sell the water utility because a private water company will give us a lot of money so they can charge at least two, three, or four times as much for the same water our residents receive now.
The ballot measures which make sense are a sales tax measure which can bring in the largest amount of money, increasing the transient occupancy tax/hotel tax to match what other OC cities receive, and considering a limited number of tightly regulated and managed high quality cannabis shops.
Other items are ego strokes or poorly thought out or both. Too many time wasters to choose from so I will discuss one. A tax on large parking lots is an example of not thinking things through. A parking tax makes sense when there is an amusement park or professional sports facility in the city. Orange does not have an amusement park or a professional sports facility which means parking at Chapman University and the large hospitals would be taxed. Taxing Chapman University may not be enforceable because Chapman University is a non-profit. Moreover, the tax can create hard feelings which can make living together difficult going forward. Taxing hospital parking means you are taxing people going for medical care or visiting loved ones, which is just nasty.
What happened on April 28 is impotent, feckless, clueless, useless, and aimless in addition to being both disturbing and harmful. City Council members who placed the first sales tax measure on the ballot should know for certain without any reservations or questions that Orange is in a financial crisis and needs more revenue to stay alive. But now they pretend ignorance of how to fix the problem with one Councilmember living in an alternate reality where he claims there isn’t a financial problem.
The same people are harmful to our City because Orange can’t keep employees let alone highly in demand police and fire officers due to below market wages. Employees come to Orange to get trained for better paying jobs and advancement in other cities. This harms residents because there is a lack of experienced staff to deal with issues. City Council should know this but it is not clear that they do or understand the staffing problems. City Council majority lacks the critical thinking and analysis skills public safety responders use every day to help the public in difficult and dangerous situations.
We need to secure our City’s financial future with more revenue from a sales tax measure in addition to increasing the transient occupancy/hotel tax and potentially a few cannabis stores. These measures will give the public safety responders you claim to support better pay and allow for hiring more of them in addition to helping residents in other ways. Stop being useless and get this done to save our City from financial implosion.
Reggie Mundekis lives in Orange and has her regular seat at City Council meetings. She is in the room when it happens, in a manner of speaking.
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