The Orange County Grand Jury launched a formal investigation into how and why the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved a 25% salary increase for themselves last June — a decision made as the county faced hiring freezes, budget shortfalls, and mounting financial pressures.
The raise, approved during the adoption of the county’s $10.8 billion 2025–2026 annual budget, changed the formula used to calculate supervisors’ compensation. Since 2005, board members had been paid at 80% of the salaries of Superior Court judges, with automatic annual increases tied to judicial pay adjustments. The June 2025 ordinance revised that structure, resulting in a 25% pay increase for supervisors.
The timing of the vote drew scrutiny. The approval came just days after former Supervisor Andrew Do was sentenced in a bribery case and at a moment when the county implemented a hiring freeze due to budget constraints. The county also confronted an estimated $400 million in reported liability stemming from the Airport Fire. At the same time, all nine county labor unions were preparing to enter contract negotiations for agreements set to expire in June 2026, with some union representatives signaling they would seek raises comparable to those granted to supervisors…