Orange Official Says Charity Begins at Home

An Orange councilman hopes city employees will altruistically forgo hundreds of hours of unused vacation time so the city can earmark the savings for special projects.

Steve Ambriz said some of the 650 employees might balk but that sacrificing their time off was the right thing to do. “We’re not out there to make friends,” he said. “We’re here to improve the quality of life of our citizens.”

The money that otherwise would go toward vacation time could instead be used to repair cracked sidewalks or clean city parks, Ambriz said.

He floated his proposal to department heads Tuesday in an e-mail and asked the city attorney to determine whether the value of the uncollected vacation time would be tax-deductible for city employees.

Ambriz estimated that more than $50,000 could be funneled into a community fund if each city employee donated four hours of vacation time.

“So many employees have so many hours on the books, and we’re already so great about giving to United Way and doing things like holding holiday breakfasts for needy families,” said Ambriz, a senior staff analyst for Orange County who was elected to the Orange City Council in 2002. “Why not donate a few hours to a fund for libraries, parks and sidewalk repairs? To me, it’s a win-win for the families in our community. It’s a good touchy-feely, positive thing the employees can do, and it’ll save the city money.”

Since the proposal was sent only to department heads, word of it hadn’t reached many city employees Wednesday. Stephen Pham, the city’s personnel director, said he wasn’t sure how employees would react.

“Every year we have employees give to the United Way campaign,” Pham said. “This is kind of the same principle. But I wonder if it’s going to be well-received. I haven’t heard of any agencies that would ask the employees to do this. Charity is pretty much a personal thing.”

Ambriz said the idea occurred to him as he walked with his 2-year-old daughter past a run-down picnic structure at a city park.

“I thought this would be a cool place to have a little kid’s birthday party, but nobody’s ever going to do that with this beat-up picnic area,” he said. “I knew it would cost about $25,000 for a new picnic structure, and every time I come up with a project, I’m told we don’t have any money. So I started thinking of ways to raise that kind of money.”

Ambriz said he hoped no one was offended by his idea. “You’re taking something from the employees,” he acknowledged. “I’m just presenting another avenue for them to help out. If it flies, it flies. If it doesn’t, hey, at least I tried.”