Crossing guards will help kids in Orange cross the street safely once again with the help of over $120,000 in taxpayer dollars from the Orange County Supervisors as the city continues to face a multi-million dollar budget deficit.
The funding from the county comes after Orange city officials decided in June to ask voters in November to increase their sales tax by 0.5% to help bail them out of their budget shortfall.
[Read: Orange Asks Voters to Raise Taxes To Bail Out City Budget]
At their Tuesday meeting, Supervisors voted 4-0 to allocate a total of over $120,000 in discretionary funds – a majority of which came from the second district represented by Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento.
Supervisor Andrew Do, whose home was raided by the FBI late last month amid a federal investigation into millions of missing taxpayer dollars and has missed the subsequent meetings, was absent from the meeting.
Over $74,000 in discretionary funds were designated from the second district – which encompasses portions of Orange, Anaheim, Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Tustin.
“We heard some very impassioned pleas from residents regarding the crossing guard program and their concern going forward due to some of the financial pressures that the city was facing, but the residents were really concerned about the safety of their children,” Sarmiento said.
“We know that students going to and from school are sometimes subject to some dangerous conditions. Having crossing guards at the ready is something that’s vitally important.”
The rest of the money to bring back the program came from discretionary funds from the Third District represented by Supervisor Chairman Don Wagner, who decided to support funding the program after Sarmiento.
“It sounded like a marvelous idea that we could pitch in for the issue of public safety, especially for our children,” Wagner said.
Sarmiento said the money will help fund the program through the end of the school year and provide crossing guards at 16 Orange Unified schools.
City officials decided to cut funding for the crossing guard program this summer as they stared down the barrel of what initially started out as a $19 million budget deficit.
Earlier this month, Orange city officials unanimously decided to reinstate the program after pushback from residents on it being cut as council members debated what city hosted events to continue to fund or cut like Treats in the Streets, an annual halloween trick-o-treat event.
[Read: Orange Reinstates Crossing Guard Program After Budget Cuts]
At that meeting, Orange council members said they would put up over $250,000 towards bringing back the program and criticized the Orange Unified School District for not paying a portion of the costs of the crossing guard program.
A school district spokesperson previously told the Voice of OC they would look into helping fund the program.
“City staff will continue to engage with the Orange Unified School District to form a partnership to fund the program moving forward. Our aim is to maintain a safe, cost-effective, and consistent program in the City,” Charlene Cheng, a city spokeswoman, said in a Tuesday email.
Treats in The Streets
As for Treats in the Streets, Brandy Romero, resident and a board member with the Old Towne Preservation Association, said in a Tuesday phone interview that she is personally fundraising to save the program with help from Councilwoman Arianna Barrios.
The event, held in Old Towne Orange, features a central place for children and families go to trick or treat and engage in other Halloween activities.
Romero said they raised $26,000 for the event and need $12,000 more, adding that to save on public safety costs they have eliminated vendor booths, but children can expect more candy this year thanks to a donation of 10 pallets from Target.
She also said council members in Orange themselves have donated to help save the event expected to take place on Oct. 24.
Romero said the event will happen regardless if they are able to raise all the money because the preservation association will pay if any funding is still needed and Cheng confirmed the group is sponsoring the event.
“Kids had been through enough with COVID or things being shut down or canceled or not going to school, and I just couldn’t bear for it to be cut,” Romero said.
“To cut crossing guards or Treats in the Streets where it directly affects the children in Orange is a hard no for me, so we just can’t let it happen.”
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.
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