OCEA Members,
In August, OCEA members ratified a one-year bridge agreement that secured a 3% wage increase, two additional paid holidays, increased Personal Business Leave, and other important protections—all while preserving our ability to return to the table and continue fighting for a longer-term contract.
That work starts now.
The County is currently developing its 2026 Strategic Financial Plan (SFP), which projects revenues and spending over the next five years and will help shape the financial picture the County brings into our next round of negotiations.
And if history is any indication, we already know what the County will say: resources are limited.
The County’s Annual Shell Game
For years, the County has used its Strategic Financial Plan to paint a much tighter financial picture than what ultimately exists.
In 2010, the Board of Supervisors directed that year-end surplus funds be automatically added to reserves. Since then, the pattern has become remarkably predictable: the County forecasts little or nothing left at the end of the year, moves available resources into reserves, and then points to the remaining balance as evidence of “limited resources.”
But the actual numbers tell a different story.
In 16 of the last 20 years, the County finished the year with more money than it forecast—a combined $476.4 million above projections.
Last year alone, the County’s plan projected $0 remaining, but the County ultimately finished $50.8 million ahead of that forecast.
Meanwhile, County reserves have grown from approximately $322 million in 2005 to more than $1 billion in 2025.
Yet year after year, employees hear the same message: there isn’t enough money.
Sounds like a shell game to us.
We’ve Seen This Before
The Strategic Financial Plan assumes 0% salary growth beyond existing labor agreements.
The County entered our most recent negotiations with that assumption and maintained a 0% wage increase proposal for four months while holding more than $1 billion in reserves.
We cannot allow that same narrative to set the stage for our next contract.
A county that wants to call itself an “employer of choice” needs a real plan to recruit and retain employees, address vacancies and workloads, and invest in the workers who provide critical public services every day.
The County Asked for Input. Let’s Give It to Them.
The County is accepting public comments on its Strategic Financial Plan through Sunday, Sept. 20.
Go to cfo.oc.gov/public-feedback and submit a comment.
We’ve provided sample language below. You can use it as written or, even better, add a sentence or two about your job, your workload, staffing in your department, or what you see every day serving Orange County residents.
Sample Comment:
My name is __________ and I work for the County of Orange as a __________ in __________. I am responding to the County’s request for feedback on the 2026 Strategic Financial Plan.
My co-workers and I serve the residents of Orange County every day. The County owes its residents a financial plan that invests in the front-line employees who provide those services.
County employees deserve transparency about the County’s true financial position, including its reserves, departmental vacancy rates, and how the County plans to adequately staff public services while fulfilling its stated goal of being an “employer of choice.”
As the County develops its next Strategic Financial Plan, I urge the Board of Supervisors and County leadership to prioritize the workforce that keeps Orange County running.
Submit your comment by Sunday, Sept. 20, and encourage your co-workers to do the same.
Our next round of negotiations may be in 2027, but the financial story the County will bring to that bargaining table is being written now.
Thank you for standing together and making sure County employees have a voice in communicating the truth about the County’s finances.
In Solidarity,
OCEA
