The proposed $6.2 billion Orange County budget for the next fiscal year calls for a large increase in discretionary funds allocated to the Sheriff’s Department and comparatively tiny discretionary increases for social and health services. Public budget hearings will take place in June.
Tag: Orange County Board of Supervisors
Orange County’s five supervisors run a $10.5 billion county government, from public health and jails to the unincorporated areas no city covers. We cover their votes, their budget and the decisions that reach every city.
Posted inGovernment, Top Stories
OC Supervisors Expand Immigration Detention in County Jails
The unanimous decision came after more than three dozen public commenters spoke against the expansion and none supported it. Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said the expansion will bring an additional $5 million in revenue to the county without requiring more staff.
Posted inGovernment, Top Stories
$315 Million Plan for New Civic Center Building Up for Approval Today
Orange County supervisors are scheduled Tuesday to move forward with the county government’s first new Civic Center building in decades, a $315-million proposal to replace a long-empty building across from Santa Ana City Hall.
Posted inGovernment, Investigative, Top Stories
OC Sheriff Wants to Expand Immigration Detention in County Jails
If approved by supervisors at their public meeting Tuesday, Hutchens’ proposal would allow her department to hold an additional 120 immigration detainees.
Posted inGovernment, Investigative, Safety, Security & Justice, Top Stories
OC Supervisors Order Crime Data Not Be Sent to Sacramento
Two supervisors claimed Sacramento is using misleading statistics to justify a shift of prisoner parole and probation responsibilities to counties. Orange County appears to be the only large county in California to withhold the data.
Posted inGovernment, Top Stories
Sheriff May Change Policy That Led to Threatened Arrest of Reporter
The policy resulted in a Voice of OC reporter being threatened with arrest for trying to report on officers removing a homeless activist from the Board of Supervisors meeting room.
Posted inGovernment, Housing & Homelessness, Top Stories
Homeless Advocate Shuts Down OC Supervisors’ Meeting Over Children in Riverbed
Mohammed Aly refused to stop speaking when his three minutes were up. A sheriff’s deputy threatened to arrest a Voice of OC reporter who was filming Aly and sheriff’s officers when everyone was ordered to leave the board room.
Posted inCountywide, Housing & Homelessness, Top Stories
Shawn Nelson Issues Call-to-Action to Find Beds for Homeless
Supervisor Shawn Nelson said homelessness should be treated as an emergency and directed staff to research ways to quickly provide a bed for every homeless person in Orange County, even creating campgrounds on county-owned properties.
Posted inGovernment, Investigative, Top Stories
Todd Spitzer Disputes Former Staffer’s Wrongful Firing Lawsuit
In a news release, Spitzer calls the allegations by Christine Richters “false,” “disheartening, misleading, and simply untrue.” He says he fired Richters because she refused to learn basic computer skills that were necessary for her job.
Posted inGovernment, Top Stories
Former Spitzer Aide Alleges Hostile Treatment of Staff
Christine Richters claims Supervisor Todd Spitzer ran his supervisor’s office through “fear and aggression,” forced his staff to be on-call at all hours of the night, and required them to work shifts of up to 24 hours at a time.
