Orange County board adopts annual budget amendment to reconcile FY25 closeout and rebudgets

The Orange County Board of County Commissioners approved its routine January annual budget amendment on Jan. 27, reconciling fiscal-year 2025 results and re‑budgeting items that will be paid in fiscal year 2026.

Kirk Peterson, director of the Office of Management and Budget, told the board the total county budget adopted last September was $8.3 billion; rollovers, grants and other amendments raised the current budget before the amendment to about $9.3 billion and that the action before the board would bring the total to about $9.7 billion. The adjustments include $454 million of encumbrance rollovers and $447 million of grant rollovers.

Peterson said the general fund ended FY25 with a positive $33.4 million adjustment and recommended allocating roughly $5 million to corrections for overtime, $3.5 million to rebudgets, $2.8 million for lease accounting adjustments, nearly $1.25 million to youth career programs through the Citizens Commission for Children, and other program allocations. The amendment leaves about $19.6 million to add to reserves, raising the general-fund reserve to about $144.3 million (about 8.4%).

Commissioners discussed restricted funds, constitutional officer costs, potential tax-reform impacts at the state level, and options such as special assessments if property tax revenues were constrained by future legislation. The amendment passed unanimously.

Next steps: The approved amendments will be incorporated into FY26 accounting and staff will continue to brief the board on revenue vs. expense projections and possible long-term fiscal gaps.