How Does Santa Ana, CA Spend Tax Money?

Santa Ana, CA earns a C on the CitySpend Fiscal Health Score (50/100). The city is meeting current obligations but is exposed on at least one structural front, debt service, pension funding shortfalls, or thin reserves, that warrants close watching over the next two to three budget cycles.

Of the $6.9B that Santa Ana, CA spent in its most recent reported fiscal year, the largest single line item per resident is Parks & Recreation at $1,137. Fire Protection comes next at $336 per resident. Together those two functions account for the bulk of every-day taxpayer-facing services in the city budget. The remaining categories, parks, health, housing, debt service, and general administration, fill out the picture.

Where does the money come from? Property tax provides 0 percent of city revenue, sales tax 1 percent, intergovernmental transfers from federal and state sources 100 percent, and direct charges and user fees 11 percent. The remainder comes from utility revenue, income tax (where applicable), and miscellaneous sources.

Debt-wise, Santa Ana runs above the peer-group median: $951 per resident versus $445 for similar-size cities. That gap, 114%, may reflect a recent bond issuance, large capital project, or simply a more-debt-funded approach to infrastructure.

The CitySpend Fiscal Health Score combines six factors into one composite, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances: budget balance and reserves (25%), debt burden per capita versus peer median (20%), pension funded ratio from the Public Plans Database (20%), spending efficiency (15%), revenue diversity (10%), and three-year trend direction (10%). Best-practice weighting follows guidance from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). Read the full methodology.