Anaheim approved a $2.3 billion budget for the coming fiscal year on Tuesday, June 18, with officials saying they plan to add to the city’s fire and police agencies even as other municipalities in Orange County are struggling with shrinking revenues and inflation.
Officials said Anaheim won’t need to cut next year’s budget — the biggest of Orange County’s 34 cities — because of money coming from bonds passed in previous years.
“This is a strong, responsible budget in a challenging time for cities,” said Jim Vanderpool, Anaheim’s city manager.
The city is expected to raise some fees by an average of about 3%. For example, the monthly trash bill for a single-family home in Anaheim will go up to $28.61 a month. The city also will charge slightly more to participate in city-sponsored sports leagues and for room rentals at community centers.
Much of Anaheim’s spending is pre-set, devoted to fixed expenditures such as utilities and pension obligations. But the council does have more year-to-year control over the city’s general fund, which next year will run $490 million. Much of that money is used to finance public safety, libraries and parks.
Next year’s general fund is expected to run short of expenses by $42.4 million. But officials said the difference will be filled by hotel tax bonds issued in 2021. In coming years, if expenses continue to outpace revenue, the city will use cash reserves, which currently add up to $74 million.
Officials said Anaheim’s general fund expenses grew by about 6% over the past year, in part because of rising labor costs, and the plan is to use a combination of bonds and reserves to shore up the budget through 2027.
After that, the city’s fiscal situation could improve.
Resort bonds issued in the 1990s are expected to be paid off in 2028, bringing an extra $140 million a year for the city to use. The city also is planning on hotel and sales tax revenue from the resort area to boost the budget over the next few years.
Long term, the city projects that expenses won’t be changed by any economic downturn, but revenue growth could slow down over the rest of the decade.
Anaheim’s new budget for the 2024/25 fiscal year, which starts July 1, will mean hiring three firefighters, three police records specialists, a police youth services liaison, three code enforcement officers, a new senior administrative analyst for homeless programs and two street maintenance workers. The city also plans to remodel and expand Fire Station 4 in West Anaheim.
In all, the new budget calls for Anaheim to have a record 421 sworn police officers and 236 firefighters and paramedics.
Anaheim also plans to hire a new assistant city attorney, a position that will include new duties as the city’s ethics officer. The role will include promoting public confidence in City Hall by investigating reports made to the city’s fraud hotline (844-701-5974). The new assistant city attorney also will be the council’s resource for legal questions related to the city’s internal operations.
The ethics job is part of a reform package approved in Anaheim in the wake of a 2022 scandal in which former mayor, Harry Sidou, lied to investigators, destroyed public records and gave confidential negotiations information to a consultant working for the Angels.
Finance Director Debbie Moreno told the council that people living in Anaheim pay 33% less for local services because of money the city gets from tourism. More than half of the city’s general fund budget comes from hotel and sales taxes.
Another result of the new budget is that Anaheim’s library hours will be maintained. The library system also plans to permanently eliminate overdue fees, and to stop charging to rent DVDs and most other media with the exception of video games.
