Orange May Roll Out Paid Parking in Old Towne Amid Budget Woes

Residents and visitors to Orange’s Old Towne may soon have to pay for parking near Orange Plaza as city officials continue to wrestle with a budget deficit millions of dollars deep and look to produce more revenue.
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The search for new revenue streams comes after 50.43% voters last November turned down Measure Z – a ballot measure that if approved would have raised the city’s sales tax from 7.75% to 8.25% in a city where officials have struggled to rein in what was initially projected to be a $19 million deficit.

[Read: Orange Sales Tax Increase Election Night Results 2024]

On Tuesday, Orange City Council members voted 4-2 on an ordinance that would implement paid parking around Orange Plaza in Old Towne to help increase their tax revenue stream.

The change is expected to generate $1.2 million in revenue for the city annually after the first year and encourage parking turnover in the city’s downtown area potentially bringing in more patrons for local businesses.

“This type of program would also reduce traffic, because it will eliminate people from circulating around looking for parking. Hopefully, eventually, we’ll have notifications at the parking lots that say how many spaces are available,” said Mayor Dan Slater at Tuesday’s meeting.

Council members Denis Bilodeau and Jon Dumitru were the dissenting votes. Councilwoman Arianna Barrios recused herself because she said the locations of the paid parking proposals were near her home.

“Our police department are not meter maids, that’s not why we hired them,” Bilodeau said.

Reggie Mundakis, an Orange resident and local watchdog, said the paid parking would help turnover in the plaza.

“I don’t go to Old Towne because it’s too hard to park. It will encourage people to come in, eat, shop and leave so someone else can take their parking space,” she said at Tuesday’s meeting.

Police Chief Dan Adams said the police department doesn’t currently have the staffing to be regularly checking parking.

The ordinance would implement paid parking around Orange Plaza and modify already existing neighborhood parking permits.

The proposed map for the paid parking spans Old Towne from Lemon Street to Grand Street with permit parking south of Almond Avenue.

Paid parking would be implemented from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Sunday and the city would charge $1.25 per hour in city parking lots, $1.50 on city streets in the area and $2 per hour in marked parking spots around Orange Circle.

Visitors would pay at pay stations and input their license plate number. Enforcement would be done through license plate-reading cameras.

The paid parking program is expected to go in effect in the fall

A Failed Sales Tax Measure & Budget Cuts

Voters in Orange weren’t the only ones in Orange County asked to consider a sales tax increase last year to help float their city’s budget.

Voters in Buena Park, San Clemente, La Habra and Seal Beach approved sales tax increases to increase city revenue.

[Read: Here’s Where OC Voters Stand on Sales Tax Increases in 2024]

Orange was the only OC city to have voters turn down the sales tax increase.

The measure was voted against with a difference of 493 votes, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters.

Last year, Orange City Council voted to drop the crossing guard program and slash the janitorial budget to its most basic package in city buildings. The backlash from both programs being cut left city council fumbling to reconcile and reorganize the programs – ultimately reinstalling them.

Officials also approved a $2.5 million five year contract last year with SP Plus to enforce parking regulations that staff expects to generate up to $10 million in revenue over the course of the contract.

Cty officials also reduced operating hours at local libraries earlier this month.

An External Audit of Orange?

Earlier this month, Orange City Councilwoman Ana Gutierrez successfully called for city staff to look at the costs and bring back options to launch an external audit of the city’s finances after Measure Z failed in November.

Gutierrez said at the Jan. 14 meeting that the audit should be done by an outside firm for transparency’s sake and officials need to take a step back and examine what went wrong with the city’s finances.

“We need to really take a deep dive into our budget and look at what’s working, what’s not working, and learn from our mistakes,” she said.

Mayor Slater said there was no reason to believe there was malfeasance in their budget but supported the idea of “looking under the hood” of the city’s finances.

“I want to once and for all kill the idea that there was anything that ever happened that was less than above board,” Slater said at the Jan. 14 meeting. “I think the taxpayers need some assurance. I think this should have been done before Measure Z was placed on the ballot.”

Gigi Gradillas is a Voice of OC Tracy Wood Reporting Fellow. Contact her at gigi.gradillas@gmail.com or on Twitter @gigigradillas.

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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