Irvine council budgets more than doubled as city faces deficit

Irvine City Council members' individual office budgets have more than doubled over the past decade to over $600,000 each, even as the city confronts a projected multimillion-dollar budget deficit, Voice of OC reported Wednesday.

The surge — from roughly $1.5 million in total council spending between 2016 and 2021 to nearly $4.3 million in fiscal year 2024-25 — draws scrutiny to how Orange County's second-largest city by population manages public funds amid warnings of structural deficits by decade's end.

Individual budgets grew from roughly $80,000 for staff plus $10,000 for grants in 2006 to $607,000 per council member and $643,000 for the mayor in fiscal year 2024-25, according to Voice of OC. Staff salaries account for approximately 85% of the total, rising from $80,000 to $325,000 per council office over that period, with benefits adding roughly $1.3 million annually across the council.

The increases accelerated in 2021 when oversight was removed from the city manager in a move the city described as improving transparency, following concerns that Councilman Mike Carroll had used funds for resident mailers. By fiscal year 2022-23, individual budgets had jumped to over $416,000 per member.

The spending growth comes as city staff warned that Irvine overspent by $6 million in the current fiscal year and could face potential eight-figure annual deficits by the end of the decade. The city also expanded its council from five to seven members when it transitioned to district elections in 2024, reducing each representative's constituency area even as individual budgets continued to rise.

Former Mayor Farrah Khan questioned the trajectory in a letter dated June 9. "This is not about politics. This is about stewardship. Every dollar spent on an oversized staff, on redundant offices, on vanity and personal projects, that is a dollar taken from Irvine's parks, its seniors, its families, and its future," Khan wrote, according to Voice of OC.

Some council members defended current staffing levels. "We have staff members who have to work from seven in the morning to midnight, weekends. People may be thinking 40 hours but they work more like 60," Councilwoman Betty Martinez-Franco said.

Other council members signaled willingness to scale back. "We're pretty spread thin. You need at least one or two people full time … I don't think it should grow anymore, I think we could even scale back," said Councilman James Mai. Councilwoman Kathleen Treseder echoed the sentiment: "Bottom line is everybody needs to cut spending as much as possible. I'm definitely willing to do that for my part."

By comparison, Santa Ana spends roughly $151,000 per council member annually. With Irvine's structural budget gap projected to reach eight figures by decade's end, pressure is mounting on the council to demonstrate fiscal discipline — starting with its own offices.