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Business Meeting

Orange County · Board of County Commissioners
Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Regular meeting Health and human servicesAppointments and personnelArts and public artBudget and appropriationsFees and utility ratesWater and sewerEthics and transparencyIntergovernmental agreementsRoads and transportationStormwater and flooding

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Approved 4.bChild Abuse Prevention Month Proclamation Approved unanimously
  2. Approved 6.aPeriodic Review and Approval of Amendments to the Advisory Board Policy Approved unanimously

Another 1 item passed on the consent agenda, which is a single motion covering routine business. See the list.

Read from the agenda's recorded outcomes. Where the board published minutes, those are the record — this is a pointer to them.

What's on this agenda

Orange County commissioners spent 18 March 2025 on three long discussions: the annual update from the Orange Water and Sewer Authority, where Medicaid expansion stands a year on, and two accumulated fund balances the board has to decide what to do with. Nobody spoke in public comment.

The agenda document could not be retrieved; this account is written from the approved minutes.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

More than 4,600 Orange County residents had enrolled in expanded Medicaid by 31 December 2024. The programme covers people aged 19 to 64 with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $20,000 for one person and $34,000 for a family of three. The county created nine permanent social services positions in FY2023-24 to carry the workload.

The occupancy tax fund balance split the board. One commissioner said he supports only leaving the fund alone, arguing the sector is unpredictable and the bureau needs room to respond to events such as soccer tournaments. Others questioned why a single department holds its own fund balance policy when the county has one, while a colleague argued the bureau works like an enterprise fund because it lives on a special revenue tax. The chair said 15 percent is too high a reserve and that it should be set the way the schools do it, at a fixed number of months of payroll and fixed costs. The manager summed up: no majority to use occupancy tax money to offset general fund expenses, majority support for spending some on the arts, and an appetite to reduce the fund balance without eliminating it.

The Master Aging Plan balance is a different problem. Carol Woods, a continuing care community that pays no property tax, gives the Department on Aging $175,000 a year, and the balance has climbed from $99,880 in FY2018 to $664,904 in FY2024. Staff attributed it to one-time federal grants that had to be spent first, and to vacancies: of seven temporary posts the plan funds, only two or three were filled at any point over three years. The manager's FY2024-25 budget redirected $75,000 of it to the general fund, and an amendment to redirect the remaining $100,000 failed 3-4, with the majority preferring to look at it in detail.

OWASA presented its annual update, including its water bill relief programme. Staff told the board that state statute prevents the authority from setting a sliding scale for rate relief.

How the votes went

Every recorded vote was unanimous: the child abuse prevention proclamation, the advisory board policy amendments, the consent agenda and adjournment. No vote was taken on either fund balance.

From the published minutes.

Who spoke

No members of the public spoke.

Read from the records the government published after the meeting. Members of the public are private residents and are not named or indexed.

Speaking at this meeting

Orange County's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (8)

Discussion item · 3Procedural · 1Presentation · 1Proclamation or recognition · 1Staff or committee report · 1Consent agenda · 1
  1. 2 Public Comments
    Procedural
    No speakers
  2. 4.a OWASA Annual Update Presentation
    Presentation Fees and utility ratesWater and sewer
    The authority's annual report, its water bill relief programme, and a conceptual plan for future building improvements. Staff said state statute prevents OWASA from setting a sliding scale for rate relief.
  3. 4.b Child Abuse Prevention Month Proclamation
    Proclamation or recognition Health and human services
    Approved unanimously
  4. 6.a Periodic Review and Approval of Amendments to the Advisory Board Policy
    Discussion item Appointments and personnelEthics and transparency
    The first review since November 2022 of the policy governing the county's advisory boards, their composition, terms and appointment requirements.
    Approved unanimously
  5. 7.a Medicaid Expansion in Orange County One Year After Implementation
    Staff or committee report Health and human services
    More than 4,600 residents enrolled by 31 December 2024. Coverage runs to age 64 for incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. The county created nine permanent social services posts to handle the workload.
  6. 7.b Occupancy Tax Fund Balance Discussion
    Discussion item Arts and public artBudget and appropriationsFees and utility rates
    Commissioners divided over whether a single department should hold its own fund balance policy and whether 15 percent is too high a reserve. The manager summarised no majority for using occupancy tax to offset general fund expenses, majority support for spending some on the arts, and an appetite to reduce the balance without eliminating it.
    No vote taken
  7. 7.c Master Aging Plan Balance Discussion
    Discussion item Budget and appropriationsHealth and human services
    Carol Woods gives the Department on Aging $175,000 a year in lieu of property tax it does not pay. The reserve rose from $99,880 in FY2018 to $664,904 in FY2024, driven by one-time federal grants and by vacancies: of seven temporary posts, only two or three were filled at any time over three years. An amendment to redirect $100,000 to the general fund failed 3-4 in the previous budget.
    No vote taken

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