Orange Earthquake: Arianna Barrios takes on Mayor Dan Slater. And how did this happen?

The town of Orange, California is shaping up to be, this year, the most newsworthy and “interesting” (as in “may you live in interesting times”) town in the County. With its cavernous $30 million deficit and its mooncalf of a Charter vote coming down the pike. And the Orange Council meeting of July 14 was the most “interesting” of meetings, heralding a seismic shift in alliances and leading Councilwoman Arianna Barrios to run against her longtime ally Mayor Dan Slater. For MAYOR.

Let’s save the Charter mooncalf for another day – the shots fired in the first half of the meeting were over the PILOT Program. And what is a PILOT program? It’s not really a pilot program, it’s an anagram for “Payments In Lieu Of Taxes.” Many towns in which the largest institutions are tax-exempt rely on such programs, and Orange, with its Chapman University and celebrated hospitals, NEEDS one, especially in this direst of crises.

Chapman (like Disney in Anaheim) is the fabled elephant there, EVER expanding and buying up properties, using up prodigious city resources, not paying property taxes, and kind of not really feeling so much like participating in any damn “PILOT program.” Arianna, and many others (like citizen Doug Redding whom you’ll hear at the end of this video) have been trying for years to make that happen. So Arianna put the issue on the agenda for July 14, and an ambush lay in wait for her. That’s enough from me now, you need to watch this video from July 14:

And shortly after that meeting, Arianna (who’s termed out for Council) decided she needed to run for Mayor. Against her old ally Mayor Dan Slater, who seems to have been co-opted by the Orange establishment he once railed against. (Wait till you hear about his vote for the Charter, which is mostly about extending term limits into the 2040’s!) But here’s Arianna:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 2026

Orange Deserves a Mayor Who Fights for It

By Arianna Barrios

A little over five years ago, I decided to run for Orange City Council to represent my hometown district and fight for the priorities my fellow residents said were important: transparency, accountability, and fairness. And frankly, I’ve been fighting ever since.  I got into this work because I don’t believe hope is a strategy. I said as much to my colleagues when we adopted this year’s budget — a budget that, once again, plugs a multi-million-dollar operating deficit with one-time transfers and buys us time, but only time. If the City’s sales tax measure fails in November, I insisted we adopt a trigger policy to reopen the books and make the hard calls immediately, not next year, not after another election. That’s not a popular thing to propose. It’s the honest thing. Orange residents deserve a Mayor who tells them the truth about our finances before an election, not after.

Two years ago, the City tried to pass a sales tax measure, but the voters disagreed. That should’ve been an alarm bell, telling the Council to do what needed to be done and do it quickly. Many people have heard me say from the dais, ‘No Sacred Cows’, and while some cuts were made, structurally, it seemed as if there were sacred cows everywhere. When the Council finally agreed to make a serious cut, it was one of the hardest votes I’ve ever taken. On a split vote, we cut all City-produced special events. I know what those events meant to our collective identity, and to me personally, but it had to be done. And while it had to be done, it wasn’t something I just shrugged my shoulders about and walked away from. No, I rolled up my sleeves and alongside my friend Brandy Romero, raised every dime needed to save Treats in the Streets and produce a marvelous event for the children of Orange – two years in a row. Others stepped up to take on the Tree Lighting ceremony in December, because that’s who Orange is…a strong, hard-working, caring community with a passion for volunteerism. And because that’s who I am.

It should be noted that the savings from those heartbreaking cuts were wiped out when, without previous discussion or direction from the Council, Hart Park’s pool (The Plunge), was reopened at a cost of $250,000. So much for fiscal discipline.

But fiscal discipline isn’t just tightening one’s belt or sticking to a budget – it’s also about fairness. Orange has not had a stellar reputation in that department. We have allowed bad relationships to fester, taken crumbs over equitable portions, and watched smaller cities zoom past us due to lethargy and inaction. With the failure of the 2024 sales tax initiative, we should’ve been fighting every single day. Fighting for structural changes, fighting for new and innovative ways to grow revenue, fighting to realign every inequitable relationship, and fighting for fairness on behalf of our residents. Orange deserves leaders who fearlessly fight for them..

That is why, for more than two years, I’ve advocated for an idea that shouldn’t be controversial: a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) program. The concept is simple: large institutions that consume city services should contribute a fair share to the cost of those services, even if they are nonprofits. Their tax-exempt status protects large institutions from having to contribute to their host cities in the same way that you and I do through our property taxes. PILOTs are not new and are commonplace across the East Coast. Every single Ivy League school has one, while Stanford University has a public safety agreement. In Boston, it is educational institutions and major hospitals who contribute. So, there was nothing controversial about pursuing one here in Orange with Chapman University. To my knowledge, the City has never asked for such direct support although the impacts of their growth have been felt more and more each year.

Chapman sits on a significant amount of prime Orange real estate protected by its nonprofit status that would otherwise generate revenue for the city. Revenue that supports our public safety, road maintenance, critical infrastructure, at a cost that goes up every year. Costs that you and I have to fully cover. Meanwhile, this spring Chapman announced its endowment had crossed the $1 billion threshold. Billion, with a B. And while our paramedics respond to calls on their campus, our police officers break up their student parties, our roads absorb their traffic, and our public works crews maintain the infrastructure they rely on every day – it falls mostly to hard-working Orange residents and businesses to pay the bill. 

So, I’ve spent the last two years researching PILOT programs, building the case, presenting concepts for consideration, and asking for nothing more than that Chapman, if this is true partnership, help the financially struggling city it calls home. We had two face-to-face meetings. That’s it, just two. Rather than continue an open and honest negotiation, Chapman walked away from the conversation after I presented the following potential deal points at our second meeting in 2025. Proposed Chapman Deal Points That’s not partnership and it’s certainly not negotiation. A full year later of calls, emails, brief encounters asking when they were coming back for discussions, this June I got a call informing me that the new CU President was not interested in discussing a PILOT program either.

But perhaps most disheartening of all, was what transpired during the July 14 Council meeting. Rather than support my request for a public hearing on the matter, blame was thrown as the Mayor smeared my efforts in a manner that was unworthy of the man I have known most of my life. It’s unclear what the goal of this attack was, but whatever its intended purpose, it didn’t work. I will never be ashamed of fighting for our residents, our public safety personnel, or for what’s right. (Watch the July 14^th City Council Discussion) Begins at 50:15

This November, we are asking our own residents and small businesses to sacrifice, to dig deep and to pay more with the passage of a sales tax initiative to keep up Orange’s basic services. It is simply infuriating to me that we would make that ask of our residents but allow an institution, with a $1 BILLION endowment to not contribute their fair share. That fight isn’t over and it’s a fight worth having.

So today, I’m announcing my candidacy for Mayor, because I believe the same clear-eyed, fight-for-residents approach that uncovered that truth is what Orange needs. Innovation that finds new revenues and unafraid to demand Orange’s fair share. Discipline to say ‘NO’ to easy fixes or kicking the can down the road. Courage to fight for all residents of our amazing city, not just the feared or favored. 

I’m running for Mayor because Orange is at a genuine turning point. We can keep patching budgets one transfer at a time, or we can build a local government that is transparent with its residents, disciplined with its money, and fair in what it asks of everyone who benefits from living and doing business here. I’ve spent my time on this Council doing the unglamorous work of digging into our books and standing up for a fairer deal for the people who actually pay Orange’s bills. I’m ready to bring that same fight to the Mayor’s office.

We are in this together and together is how we will rebuild Orange for generations to come.

Arianna Barrios
Candidate for Mayor, City of Orange