Santa Ana officials are dissolving five resident-run advisory boards that make recommendations on things like youth services, public trees, green space, murals and historic landmarks to save over $38,000 after facing a projected $13 million deficit.
[Read: Santa Ana Officials to Purge City Commissions to Curb $13 Million Budget Gap]
It’s a move some city commissioners and elected officials are condemning, arguing it will only serve to hinder civic participation and prevent public input while other leaders say it is a difficult but necessary action to balance the books and commissioners struggled to meet.
The purge of the boards is a small sliver in a series of approved cuts this summer that include major reductions in park maintenance, significantly dialing back a police-run after school program and slashing millions in vacant positions so officials could balance their budget.
Yet other cuts floated by elected leaders during the budget process this year were not implemented, including cutting council members’ $420,000 budget for political aides or dialing back council members’ nearly $80,000 travel budget.
Councilman David Penaloza publicly said dissolving the commissions was reflective of a decades-long pattern of elected officials trying to minimize public input, including a reduction in public comment speaking times at some meetings.
“There’s always an effort to minimize public input and I think this is one of those ways where we could include the public as much as we can,” he said at the June 16 city council meeting, adding they should look at other ways to save the money.
“It gives an opportunity for our public to participate and be engaged.”
Councilwoman Thai Viet Phan said there are other ways for residents to participate civically.
“Members of the public can still attend public meetings, can still call in, can still email, and can still participate in order to give their opinions and make their voices heard on these issues,” she said at the meeting.
What is Getting Cut?
The cuts include the Youth Commission made up of seven high school students that make suggestions on youth services and programs as well as the Arts and Culture Commission that makes recommendations on public art and art funding.
It also includes the Parks and Recreation Commission which makes recommendations on maintaining and acquiring park space, the Historic Resources Commission which makes suggestions on historic landmarks and the Environmental and Transportation Advisory Commission that advises the city council on public trees and landscaping.
Roberto Herrera, chair of the Parks and Recreation Commission, called dissolving the boards an attack on democracy, arguing that local activists had long advocated for a youth commission and the boards were an opportunity for civic engagement and oversight.
“These commissions are opportunities for the public to be involved and engaged,” Herrera said in a Monday phone interview. “For folks that want to step up and serve their city, these commissions make great opportunities to understand the levers of government
Joese Hernandez, chair of the Arts and Culture Commission, called the decision a step in the wrong direction and hopes the dissolution is just a temporary pause until the city is in a better position financially.
“What hurts the most is just that it’s $38,000. It’s such a nominal amount of money compared to other things,” Hernandez said in a Tuesday phone interview, pointing to city payouts over lawsuits against the police department.
“If we just trained our officers better, perhaps we could save some money that way and not have to cut things like parks and rec and arts and culture.”
Santa Ana officials balanced the budget by cutting nearly $11 million in spending – slashing $5 million in vacant positions – and increasing revenue by about $2 million, including a technology cost recovery fee expected to bring in $750,000.
Debra Russell, an Arts and Culture commissioner, said she was disappointed by the decision to slash the commissions but the city will still preserve funding for artist grants and there is an interest in setting up an artist trust fund.
Russell said the youth commission was an opportunity for young people to learn about how local government works and the parks and recreation commission was an opportunity to provide input on greenspace, adding elected officials could have pulled funding from elsewhere.
“There could have been other places in the budget – use of military weapons would have been another interesting place to look,” she said in a Monday phone interview.
“If we don’t have a place like a youth commission, how are we going to expect our young people to understand the nuances of how policy gets developed and how the government operates?”
Jesse Rodriguez, a youth commissioner, publicly called on elected officials in May not to dissolve the board he sits on or cut the police run after school program.
“The Youth Commission gives young people a voice in local government,” he said at the May 19 city council meeting.
“These programs would keep youth engaged, supported, and connected to their community. They also create positive spaces for leadership, growth, and trust between young people and the city. Investing in youth now builds a stronger and safer Santa Ana in the future.”
What Isn’t Getting Cut?
Despite cutting commissions, dialing back an after school program and slashing vacant positions, council members didn’t cut their spending on council aides or travel expenses.
In April, Councilwoman Jessie Lopez suggested officials cut the travel budget for elected officials.
“I know that’s not going to entirely fix a deficit of this level but I think it can contribute long term,” she said.
The cut wasn’t made.
For the next fiscal year, officials allocated over $78,000 for training, transportation and meetings in the city council budget – the same as this fiscal year. In the 2023-24 fiscal year, officials spent over $30,000 for the same purpose, according to the budget.
The seven council members also split $84,000 for their salaries before benefits, like health insurance and retirement.
The travel budget wasn’t the only expense suggested to be reduced.
Penaloza suggested officials eliminate their contracted council aide program for elected officials but faced push back from Phan who said her aide helps respond and engage with constituents as she juggles her full time job as an attorney.
In 2024, city council members voted to limit pay to $60 an hour for aides with a $5,000 maximum per month.
Officials are budgeted to spend $420,000 on “contracted vendor personnel services” for the city council in 2026-27 fiscal year.
Ribbon Cuttings: How is Santa Ana Civically Engaging Residents?
Mayor Valerie Amezcua echoed Phan’s comments at the June 16 meeting, saying the community is civically involved in other ways.
Penaloza, who often votes along the same lines as Amezcua, pushed back against the mayor saying she cut speaking times for public commenters at a recent city council meeting.
Amezcua said she only cuts public speaking times once in a while so they are not there for hours and it was agreed upon by the council through a vote.
“We want the community to be very involved and we love to hear the comments but for five and a half hours to hear shame, shame, shame, for five and a half hours. Yes, it’s important, but I’ll be the first one to say yes as mayor, I have cut down from three minutes to two minutes and they still come and speak,” she said.
Amezcua added there are many ways the public can participate, pointing to the city’s budget survey that was filled out by 2,000 residents in a city with a population of over 316,000 people.
“We invite everybody to our ribbon cuttings, we invite people to community meetings,” she said. “We’re not icing anybody out.”
Ultimately, city council members finalized their budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year last week and voted 5-2 on a first reading to disband the resident-run boards as a way to save tens of thousands of dollars in the face of a multi-million budget gap.
Penaloza and Councilwoman Jessie Lopez, who are expected to face off against each other in November for a state assembly seat, were the dissenting votes.
Lopez did not comment on her opposition at the meeting last week but had previously said in April some commissioners were not taking their jobs seriously and she was open to cutting some of the commissions.
“If these people that are being appointed are not going to take it seriously then what is the purpose of having commissions that are only costing our city money and are not being productive? ” she said at the April 7 meeting.
“They have really brought me to the point now that I am open about the removal of some of these commissions and they need to understand that it has been their inaction, their inability to show up to these commissions, that are making me say the things that I am uplifting tonight.”
Did The Boards Fail to Meet?
The cuts come after city staff told officials earlier this year that many of their commissions are failing to meet due to a lack of quorum.
Russell acknowledged a lack of participation on the Arts and Culture Commission from some board members and local artists as well.
“We had people who were on the commission and barely showed up to meetings. We had one person who showed up to meetings a couple times a year and so we were struggling to make quorum often, which is to be honest, embarrassing,” she said.
Herrera said if commissioners weren’t meeting, council members had a responsibility to ensure their appointees were engaging and could have widened the scope of their commissions.
According to an attendance report, there were five noted unexcused absences between June and December 2025, from four separate commissioners on two of the boards cut – Arts and Culture and the Environmental and Transportation Advisory Commission.
The report showed that two of the six arts and culture meetings in that time period were cancelled, one of the six Environmental and Transportation Advisory Commission meetings were cancelled and one of the six Youth Commission meetings were cancelled.
Two of the three regular meetings for the Historic Resources Commission were cancelled but two special meetings were also called in that time frame.
The report also noted about two dozen excused absences from commissioners across the five boards in the same six months.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org.
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