Federal COVID-19 bailout funds inflated local tax coffers unlike anything in modern history.

Along with a host of money to local governments and nonprofits, local politicians across Southern California and San Diego got a turbo boost to the amount of money they get to distribute in their districts at their discretion.

In Orange County, it amounted to a one-time total of $13 million for each county supervisor – totalling nearly $53 million to date.

Yet today, amidst much tighter public budgets and in the wake of myriad COVID bailout spending scandals, there’s open questions as to how much local governments should put in the hands of politicians – if any at all.

There can be confusion about what discretionary funds even mean.

In Orange County, if you ask about this kind of funding, it o

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