Countywide : Supervisors Seek Staff Ideas to Get More Cash From State

The Board of Supervisors has directed county officials to examine ways of receiving more tax revenues from the state.

Orange County is considered a “donor county,” meaning it sends more sales, business and property taxes to the state than it recovers in services and grants. Officials estimate that the imbalance is more than $1 billion a year.

At its Dec. 19 meeting, the board voted to ask the county’s legislative delegation to push for the return of millions in tax dollars that the state diverted from the county and cities in 1993.

The county also will ask a commission considering revisions to the California Constitution to modify the way tax revenues are distributed.

Supervisor Marian Bergeson said the current system forces cities to seek development of shopping centers and other projects that will generate sales taxes for them. The situation also makes some cities slow to annex residential county islands because the districts do not generate revenue, she said.