The holiday season is typically a giving time of year, but a flawed United Way donations policy that re-routed funds that should have been earmarked for the OC Sheriff's Department Advisory Council into their general pool has caused a massive uproar.

The Sheriff's Department Advisory Council provides funds for causes that aren't supported by the OCSD budget; families of officers who have been injured or killed in the line of duty are the most frequent beneficiaries.

Until recently, more than 1,000 members of the department had set up auto-deductions from their paychecks.  In theory, the monies should have gone to support this cause.  What they didn't know is that in order for the United Way to earmark those donations, deputies needed to fill out an annual form instructing the organization to do so.

Unless a specific charity is named, the United Way places the donations into their general pool.

Many within the Orange County Sheriff's Department were unaware such a policy existed.  Those who did say they weren't aware the form needed to be filled out every 12 months.

Suffice to say, the deputies are not happy.  They're so unhappy, in fact, that almost 96 percent of those who had signed up for auto-deduction donations have reportedly dropped out of the program.

The United Way said they started to fix the problem last year but a number of charitable givers say they're still looking for answers.

The County Board of Supervisors is equally miffed, with one member saying the organization has quite a bit of explaining to do.

As it stands, the Orange County chapter has assets nearing $17 million, and the United Way keeps about 9 percent of each payroll deduction for themselves.  The other 90 percent, according to the OCSD, was supposed to go to the Sheriff's Department Advisory Council.

The supervisors feel the 9 percent fee is still too high and they want to know why Advisory Council donations needed to go through the United Way to begin with.

The organization's president and CEO said they have modified their policies to make sure this type of mishap doesn't take place in the future.   Donations won't require an annual designation, he said, and funds will be diverted to the places they are supposed to go.