Back in January, Orange County’s interim CEO Michelle Aguirre sent a memo to county staff warning about difficult economic conditions and the need for belt-tightening. She pointed to “national, state and local economies being below trend growth, and the county is already experiencing this trend in the current fiscal year.” She called for “immediate budget restrictions and cost-saving measures.”

Late last month, the Orange County Board of Supervisors approved the county’s $10.8 billion budget. Not much has changed in the overall economic or budget picture five months later — with the stock market bouncing up and down and the national and state economies showing myriad signs of trouble. Yet supervisors made their priorities clear: Their budget includes eye-popping raises for supervisors and other county executives.

Supervisors earned around $195,000 in base pay last year. They voted to bring their pay up to the pay of local judges who earn $244,000, which is a 25% boost. Supervisors also approved a package for Aguirre, who was officially appointed CEO last month, at $460,000 plus benefits. That’s $117,000 more than the position’s base pay last year, according to the Register.

The only supervisor with the sense to vote no was Katrina Foley. Don Wagner, who can usually be counted on to defend the status quo, said: “I think everyone on the board recognizes the work this board does is broader and we have more roles and more responsibilities than even those superior court judges.” Yes, everyone on the board recognized their own hard work. How nice.

We don’t see comparisons to judges as being relevant, but we do appreciate that none of the current board members are facing corruption charges. Nevertheless, the board made some cuts, mostly in unfilled positions. As LAist reported, the budget “doesn’t anticipate any negative impacts” from the state budget or the Trump administration. That seems like an optimistic take.

Following the uproar, supervisors Vicente Sarmiento and Doug Chaffee said they’d donate the raises to charity, per VoiceofOC. Maybe all supervisors can revisit the vote and donate the raises back to county taxpayers.