Anaheim’s budget deficit this coming fiscal year is expected to eat up half of the $120 million in incoming new revenue, which is money freed up after the 1997 Disneyland Resort expansion bonds are paid off early.
It comes after years of various city council members, chamber of commerce and resort interests couching the bonds as a windfall in new money to the city’s general fund – the most flexible pool of money that pays for daily services like police, fire, libraries, parks and senior programs.
Issued in 1997, the $510 million in bonds built a parking structure for Disneyland and helped pay for infrastructure improvements that paved the way for Disney’s California Adventure. Once the bonds are paid off, Anaheim gives Disney the publicly-financed parking structure.
“I know we talk about the [bonds], but we haven’t even discussed how exactly that’s going to be spent yet, and everybody keeps telling us it’s already gone,” Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava said during Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Last year, Rubalcava unsuccessfully tried to get her colleagues to ask voters to adopt a gate tax on large entertainment venues like Disneyland after she raised concerns that the freed up bond money would be spent by the end of the decade – chewing up the new $120 million in annual revenue.
[Read: Anaheim Officials Put Disneyland Gate Tax Proposal on Ice]
According to independent investigators hired by the city shortly after a 2022 FBI corruption probe surfaced, that same bond money was once eyed by a host of Disneyland resort interests, who wanted to keep it out of the general fund.
[Read: How Disneyland Resort Interests Planned to Withhold Tax Money from Anaheim’s Working Class]
During Tuesday’s meeting, council members unanimously adopted a budget that used money from the sale of a parking lot and borrowed from reserves to close a roughly $42 million budget gap for the next fiscal year.
City staff projects the freshly adopted general fund budget to bring in $645 million in taxes while spending just over $689 million – roughly $2.5 million higher than the proposed budget because of recent labor agreements and new employee positions, according to a city staff report.
“The FY 26-27 fiscal year remains a transitional year. The proposed general fund forecast includes a structural gap of more than $42 million due mainly to the payoff of the [resort] bonds,” acting City Manager Greg Garcia told council members on Tuesday.
“While maintaining service levels, the budget draws on the remaining proceeds on the sale of the Hilton Parking Structure supplemented by a measured draw of general fund reserves,” he said.
But, Garcia warned, the budget projections don’t “include expiring labor agreements or costs nor does it consider the possibility of contraction in a volatile economy.”
Anaheim is expected to see much of its main tax revenues grow this fiscal year, which starts July 1.
According to the adopted budget, the city expects a 3.8% increase to its hotel tax revenue, hitting $253 million. Sales tax is also expected to grow by 3.2% to hit nearly $117 million and property taxes are projected to hit just over $112 million – a nearly 6% increase.
The adopted budget notes five-year forecasts remain positive as “operating sources exceed operating uses by approximately $60 million in FY 2027/28, growing to over $86 million by FY 2030/31, with reserves restoring the financial flexibility compressed during deficit years.”
But, officials warn that general fund spending has ballooned in recent years.
“Total General Fund expenditures have grown from $468 million in FY 2023/24 to a projected $571 million in FY 2026/27, driven primarily by labor, pension, contractual obligations in public safety, and intragovernmental service charges because of labor increases and inflationary pressure,” reads the budget.
That’s a 22% spending increase in roughly three years.
Meanwhile, Garcia said roughly half of the $120 million used to pay down resort bonds is expected to buoy increased spending and bolster reserves.
“Having said all that, the retirement of the [resort] bonds are expected near the end of this year and will return more than $120 million in revenue. Approximately half of this amount will balance the existing structural deficit, the remainder provides opportunities for enhanced services, for replenishment of reserves, community improvements and repayment of existing debt that could free up new capacity for capital investment,” Garcia said.
City council members are also slated to have study sessions on how to best manage the incoming general fund money once the bonds are paid off, Garcia said.
It comes as city officials bank on the OC Vibe development and the Disneyland expansion to bolster general fund revenues once the two major projects are completed.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Councilwoman Natalie Meeks said because of the bonds, the city doesn’t have to grapple with cuts like many cities throughout Orange County.
“So many cities are cutting and not being able to provide the services that they would like to, and I will point out that the only reason we get to do this is because of the financial investments and the strategies that we put in place 30 years ago,” Meeks said.
The councilwoman also said officials need to be mindful of spending and revenue.
“I encourage us, one to look at those revenues and carefully invest them in our community, but also look at the next 30 years and how we’re going to continue to grow our revenues, so that we can continue to at least maintain our services and grow our services for our community”
Spencer Custodio is the civic editor. You can reach him at scustodio@voiceofoc.org. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerCustodio.
Reporter Hosam Elattar contributed to this article.
