Orange County LAFCO

Last updated

The Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission, or OC LAFCO, is a government agency that makes decisions regarding boundaries for cities, unincorporated territory (land not located within a city) and special districts (local agencies which provide water, sewer, parks and recreation and other municipal services) within Orange County, California. Orange County LAFCO offices are located in Santa Ana, California.

Contents

Funding Source

OC LAFCO is funded by Orange County's 34 cities, 27 special districts, and the County. The LAFCO apportionment is a state mandate: Government Code Section 56381(1)(A) requires that the County, cities, and special districts each pay one-third of LAFCO’s costs. The agencies' apportionment are based on formulas previously adopted by the Independent Special Districts of Orange County and the Orange County League of Cities.

History

Following World War II, Orange County experienced a dramatic growth in population and economic development, increasing the demand for housing and public services. The population in Orange County grew from 216,224 in 1950 to 703,925 just ten years later in 1960. By 1970, the County’s population exceeded 1.4 million residents. As development pressures increased to serve Orange County’s growth, land developers tried to find the fastest and most cost effective means of providing basic municipal services such as water, roads, fire protection and sewers. Often this was done without consideration of the long-term consequences on municipal service delivery to Orange County residents.

During the 1950s and early 1960s, some Orange County cities began to haphazardly add annex territory to their boundaries to serve newly developing areas. In addition, numerous special districts were created – many of them with overlapping boundaries, which created inefficiencies and higher costs for residents. To address these issues not only in Orange County, but throughout California, Local Agency Formation Commissions were established by the State Legislature in 1963 in each California county.

Authority

The legal authority and mandate for Orange County LAFCO, like all LAFCOs in California, are defined by the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000 (Government Code Section 56000 et seq).

Governance

Orange County LAFCO’s determinations involving the boundaries of cities and special districts can range from simple to complex actions. The power of LAFCOs to regulate local boundaries includes nine types of boundary changes:

Orange County LAFCO consists of an 11-member Commission, seven regular members and four alternate members. The regular members of the Commission consist of two members from the Orange County Board of Supervisors representing the County, two city council members representing Orange County cities, two members representing special districts and one public “at-large” member. Current members of Orange County LAFCO include:

Regular members [1]

Alternate members

OC LAFCO projects

Each LAFCO in California, although governed by the same set of laws, reflects the unique geography, constituency and issues of its home county. Each LAFCO designs and implements policies, programs and procedures that can best assist their own county to enhance local services. What works in one county may not necessarily work in another county. OC LAFCO has pioneered a “partnering” effort with Orange County’s cities and special districts and is dedicated to improving the lives of residents by creating whole and healthy communities served by effective and efficient municipal service providers. Three of its current projects that foster OC LAFCO’s partnering spirit include the Shared Services Program, Fiscal Trends Program and the Islands Task Force.

Shared services

Orange County LAFCO has recently undertaken a partnering effort with its member agencies (the County of Orange, Orange County cities and Orange County special districts) to provide opportunities for local agencies to increase their efficiency in providing municipal services and to monitor their ongoing financial condition. The Shared Services Program is a web-based tool, which matches agencies seeking specific services with other agencies offering services. Launched in June 2011, the program is anticipated to be a no-cost, user-friendly resource for local agencies in Orange County interested in sharing services to save money, enhance or maintain service levels, or both.

The Fiscal Trend Analysis Program is a web-based financial “dashboard” developed by Orange County LAFCO that allows agencies and the public to assess the financial condition of local agencies. Similar to a car’s dashboard, the program provides a visual, graphic depiction of an agency’s financial information (based on eight key economic indicators). The program’s eight indicators are updated annually to ensure that the data remains current.

Community Task Force

The Community Task Force (formally known as Islands Task Force), composed of county, city, and LAFCO representatives, was initially started in 2010 as a way to “jump start” the annexation of unincorporated “islands” - territory not within a city (but surrounded by a city) - that receives municipal services from the County. The ideas/issues that came out of the Task Force discussions caused OC LAFCO to re-evaluate its approach to improving services for Orange County residents. Annexation to cities, once the Commission’s highest priority, became one of a number of tools that OC LAFCO now uses to increase the efficiency of municipal services and build whole and healthy communities.

At the 2013 CALAFCO Annual Conference in Squaw Creek, OC LAFCO was awarded the “Government Leadership” award for its proactive effort on the Community Islands Task Force project. Receipt of this award provides recognition of the Commission for its creative vision to develop “outside the box” initiatives to address both short and long term service needs of Orange County communities.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Administrative divisions of New York (state)</span> Administrative divisions of New York State

The administrative divisions of New York are the various units of government that provide local services in the U.S. State of New York. The state is divided into boroughs, counties, cities, towns, and villages. They are municipal corporations, chartered (created) by the New York State Legislature, as under the New York State Constitution the only body that can create governmental units is the state. All of them have their own governments, sometimes with no paid employees, that provide local services. Centers of population that are not incorporated and have no government or local services are designated hamlets. Whether a municipality is defined as a borough, city, town, or village is determined not by population or land area, but rather on the form of government selected by the residents and approved by the New York State Legislature. Each type of local government is granted specific home rule powers by the New York State Constitution. There are still occasional changes as a village becomes a city, or a village dissolves, each of which requires legislative action. New York also has various corporate entities that provide local services and have their own administrative structures (governments), such as school and fire districts. These are not found in all counties.

Local Agency Formation Commissions or LAFCOs are regional service planning agencies of the State of California. LAFCOs are located in all 58 counties and exercise regulatory and planning powers in step with their prescribed directive to oversee the establishment, expansion, governance, and dissolution of local government agencies and their municipal service areas to meet current and future community needs. LAFCOs were established in 1963 and administer a section of California planning law now known as the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd Spitzer</span> American politician and lawyer

Todd Spitzer is an American attorney and politician serving as the district attorney of Orange County, California. Spitzer successfully ran for Orange County district attorney in 2018 against incumbent Tony Rackauckas. Spitzer had previously served as a deputy district attorney from 1990 to 1996 and, under Rackauckas, as assistant district attorney from 2008 to 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of San Francisco</span> Overview of the government of San Francisco

The government of the City and County of San Francisco utilizes the "strong mayor" form of mayoral/council government, composed of the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, several elected officers, and numerous other entities. It is the only consolidated city-county in California, and one of only thirteen charter counties of California. The fiscal year 2019–20 city and county budget was approximately $12.3 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange County Board of Supervisors</span> Five-member governing body of Orange County, California

The Orange County Board of Supervisors is the five-member governing body of Orange County, California along with being the executive of the county.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Moorlach</span> American politician

Johannes Meindert Willem Moorlach is an American politician who served as a member of the California State Senate representing 37th Senate district, which includes portions of Orange County, from 2015 to 2020. He was narrowly defeated for reelection by Dave Min in 2020; he lost a 2021 special election to return to the Orange County Board of Supervisors; he withdrew from the 2022 election for Orange County Auditor-Controller; and he lost the 2022 election for Mayor of Costa Mesa. A Republican, he previously served on the Orange County Board of Supervisors from December 5, 2006 to January 5, 2015 and as Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector from March 17, 1995 to December 5, 2006.

Anaheim Island consists of several unincorporated neighborhoods located east of the city of Anaheim in Orange County, California, United States. Established between the 1910s and 1960s, the neighborhoods are bounded by the cities of Anaheim to the east, north and west, Stanton to the southwest, and Garden Grove to the south. The Orange County Board of Supervisors has referred to these unincorporated areas as "Anaheim Island" while Orange County LAFCO has referred to them variously as "Anaheim West" and "Southwest Anaheim". The Anaheim City Planning Commission refers to the entire area in the singular as the "Garza Island". Some local residents refer to the area as the "Gaza Strip".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Norby</span> American politician

Chris Norby is an American politician and educator. He served on the Fullerton City Council (1984–2002) including three years as mayor, on the Orange County Board of Supervisors (2003–2010), on the California State Assembly (2010–2012).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rossmoor, California</span> Census-designated place in California, United States

Rossmoor is a planned census-designated place located in Orange County, California. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a total population of 10,625 up from the 2010 census population of 10,244. The gated Leisure World retirement community in the city of Seal Beach is to the south of Rossmoor, Los Alamitos is to the east and north, and Long Beach is to the west. The community of Rossmoor has two shopping centers within its boundaries, but only one—the Rossmoor Village Square, is now within the political boundaries of Rossmoor. A larger shopping center, the Rossmoor Business Center, was annexed, despite many protests, by the City of Seal Beach in 1967. The Center has been remodeled several times and was renamed the Shops at Rossmoor in the early 2000s.

The Alameda County Board of Supervisors is the five member non-partisan governing board of Alameda County, California. Members of the Board of supervisors are elected from districts, based on their residence.

City limits or city boundaries refer to the defined boundary or border of a city. The area within the city limit can be called the city proper. Town limit/boundary and village limit/boundary apply to towns and villages. Similarly, corporate limit is a legal name that refers to the boundary of municipal corporations. In some countries, the limit of a municipality may be expanded through annexation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Local government in California</span>

California has an extensive system of local government that manages public functions throughout the state. Like most states, California is divided into counties, of which there are 58 covering the entire state. Most urbanized areas are incorporated as cities, though not all of California is within the boundaries of a city. School districts, which are independent of cities and counties, handle public education. Many other functions, especially in unincorporated areas, are handled by special districts, which include municipal utility districts, transit districts, health care districts, vector control districts, and geologic hazard abatement districts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of Los Angeles County</span>

The Government of Los Angeles County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution, California law, and the Charter of the County of Los Angeles. Much of the Government of California is in practice the responsibility of county governments, such as the Government of Los Angeles County. The County government provides countywide services such as elections and voter registration, law enforcement, jails, vital records, property records, tax collection, public health, health care, and social services. In addition the County serves as the local government for all unincorporated areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of San Diego County, California</span> County government

The Government of San Diego County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution, California law, and the Charter of the County of San Diego. Much of the Government of California is in practice the responsibility of county governments such as the Government of San Diego County. The County government provides countywide services such as elections and voter registration, law enforcement, jails, vital records, property records, tax collection, public health, and social services. In addition the County serves as the local government for all unincorporated areas.

The Government of Sacramento County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution, California law, and the Charter of the County of Sacramento. Much of the government of California is in practice the responsibility of county governments, such as the Government of Sacramento County. The County government provides countywide services such as elections and voter registration, law enforcement, jails, vital records, property records, tax collection, public health, and social services. In addition the County serves as the local government for all unincorporated areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of San Joaquin County, California</span>

The Government of San Joaquin County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution and law as a general law county. Much of the Government of California is in practice the responsibility of county governments, such as the Government of San Joaquin County. The County government provides countywide services such as elections and voter registration, law enforcement, jails, vital records, property records, tax collection, public health, and social services. In addition the County serves as the local government for all unincorporated areas.

The Government of Solano County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution and law as a general law county. Much of the Government of California is in practice the responsibility of county governments, such as the Government of Solano County. The County government provides countywide services such as elections and voter registration, law enforcement, jails, vital records, property records, tax collection, public health, and social services. In addition the County serves as the local government for all unincorporated areas.

The Government of Fresno County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution, law, and the Charter of the County of Fresno. Much of the Government of California is in practice the responsibility of county governments, such as the Government of Fresno County. The County government provides countywide services such as elections and voter registration, law enforcement, jails, vital records, property records, tax collection, public health, and social services. In addition the County serves as the local government for all unincorporated areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Government of Stanislaus County, California</span>

The Government of Stanislaus County is defined and authorized under the California Constitution and law as a general law county. Much of the Government of California is in practice the responsibility of county governments, such as the Government of Stanislaus County. The County government provides countywide services such as elections and voter registration, law enforcement, jails, vital records, property records, tax collection, public health, and social services. In addition the County serves as the local government for all unincorporated areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Do</span> American politician

Andrew Do is an American politician currently serving as Orange County Supervisor, representing the First District and is the Board Vice Chair as a Republican.

References

  1. "Commissioner Bios". oclafco.org. Retrieved 2015-10-14.