“Building Better Through Efficiency” was the focus of Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings’ annual State of the County address Friday, with the mayor and county staff touting ways they said artificial intelligence, or AI, can help the county save time and money.
Already, Orange County has been using AI for the past 20 years, specifically to help with traffic monitoring and enforcement, said Communications Manager Jane Watrell in one of several pre-recorded videos that played during Demings’ speech.
“Time is money, and time better spent means better productivity,” Watrell said. She said the county projects being able to save thousands of staff hours by using AI to automate mundane tasks.
AI technology is helping improve business practices and has also helped Orange County prevent millions of attempted cyber attacks, Demings said. The county also uses AI for talk-to-text translations, to help 911 operators meet the needs of callers in distress who don’t speak English. Some other Central Florida communities are using similar technology.
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Demings’ annual speech comes at a moment when efficiency has been top of mind across the country and at higher levels of government, with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) previously headed by Elon Musk making huge cuts in federal budgets and staffing resources. Some of those moves have affected Central Floridians.
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Demings did not mention any anticipated staffing cuts but spoke of the need to examine budgets to “ensure that we are spending the taxpayer dollars in the most efficient ways.” He said the goal is to use technology as a way of leveraging human capital to become more efficient.
“This is a pivotal moment in our nation, when the need for smart governance has never been greater,” Demings said. “We have a steady process in place to counter the volatility and instability of the economy, even with the geopolitical headwinds.”
Today, Orange County enjoys one of the lowest tax rates of counties statewide, and the lowest among Florida counties with more than 1 million residents, Demings said.
“In order to keep the tax rates low and not increase tax rates, we have to look for efficiencies,” Demings said.
Other priorities outlined by Demings include continued investments in affordable housing and transportation opportunities, as well as a commitment to double the county’s acreage of protected conservation land over the next few years. Currently, about 24,000 acres of undeveloped land are set aside in Orange County to protect natural resources.
Public transportation improvements are already coming to fruition, Demings said, with recent investments in the county’s Accelerated Transportation Safety Program – helping Lynx reduce wait times for buses and boost ridership by 35%. Applause broke out at the Orange County Convention Center Friday when Demings said one Lynx route in Washington Shores grew by 81% on Sundays, following a $55 million investment.
One plan Demings said still needs more work before potentially coming to fruition is the idea some have floated about bringing a Major League Baseball team to Orange County. At a press conference following Friday’s speech, Demings confirmed he’s heard some pitches for the idea.
“Yes, I have been approached by different ownership groups. It's really more than one,” Demings said.
But “those who are talking about bringing Major League Baseball to our community at this point, they are not prepared,” Demings said. “They don't have details. We haven't sat and had any specific conversations.”
Any firm plan to bring an MLB team to the county would require much more conversation, and negotiations on how the county would tangibly benefit, Demings said.
“We don't want to just create opportunity for billionaires and wealthy people to come in and make money, but [for] our community [to] not make money and thrive as a result of that investment,” Demings said. “Those are conversations, quite frankly, that have not been had at this point.”
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Overall, Demings expressed his pride in county staff for all they’ve already done to help Orange County achieve the milestones it has, and his hope for an even brighter future — with a dose of realism.
“I believe that Orange County is a good local government. We strive for perfection, but we're not there yet,” Demings said.
