Commentary: Why economic stewardship belongs in O.C cities’ fiscal conversations

Cities across Orange County are facing familiar challenges. Public safety costs continue to rise. Infrastructure ages. Pension obligations grow. Residents expect high-quality services while remaining understandably cautious about higher taxes.

Those realities force every city to make difficult fiscal decisions.

Most conversations naturally begin with two questions:

How do we reduce spending?

How do we generate more revenue?

Both matter.

But I believe every city should ask one more.

How do we strengthen the economy that naturally generates the revenue cities depend on?

I think about that question through the lens of what I call economic stewardship.

Economic stewardship isn’t the same as economic development. Cities already invest significant time supporting businesses, tourism, planning, and economic development. To me, economic stewardship is a way of evaluating decisions. It means asking not only what a policy does to next year’s budget, but what it does to the long-term health of the economy that funds future budgets.

Laguna Beach’s recent budget discussion illustrates why that distinction matters.

A proposed 3% business license tax on restaurants and bars generated an important public conversation in Laguna. Much of the discussion understandably focused on how much revenue the proposal might generate.

I found myself asking a different question.

How would it influence future investment? Business expansion? Entrepreneurship? Commercial occupancy?

Good fiscal policy shouldn’t evaluate only what a proposal collects. It should also evaluate how it changes economic behavior.

The structure of the proposal reinforced that concern. It taxed gross receipts rather than profitability. Restaurants operate on some of the narrowest margins in the economy, and two businesses with identical sales can have completely different financial realities. A tax on gross revenue makes no distinction between the two.

The same framework extends well beyond taxes.

Commercial vacancy is more than a real estate issue. Every long-term vacant storefront represents unrealized jobs, private investment, customer activity, and future tax revenue. Returning those spaces to productive use strengthens the local economy without increasing tax rates.

The same principle applies to tourism.

Successful destinations shouldn’t only ask how many visitors arrive or what hotel rates they command. They should also ask whether visitors stay longer, spend throughout the community, and support restaurants, retailers, galleries, hotels, and local businesses together. A healthy economy is built through the combined strength of those relationships.

This isn’t an argument for unlimited growth or becoming a bigger city.

It’s an argument for making economic vitality one of the considerations that sits alongside spending, efficiency, and revenue whenever cities make long-term fiscal decisions.

Strong public finances don’t happen by accident.

They require responsible budgeting.

They require operational discipline.

And I believe they also require intentionally considering how today’s decisions shape tomorrow’s economy.

Because in the long run, a strong economy doesn’t just support local businesses. It strengthens a city’s ability to fund the public services and preserve the community residents value most.

Ash Cintas is the owner of Oto Sushi Laguna Beach and a member of the Visit Laguna board.