Governor Says Budget Is Within Legal Limit

Gov. George Deukmejian on Tuesday defended his proposed $36.7-billion budget for next year as realistic and safely within the legal spending limit, saying he disagrees with a legislative analyst’s estimate that his budget already exceeds the limit.

“I’m going to make sure that we continue to act responsibly, that we have a balanced budget, a prudent reserve, and that we certainly stay within the spending limits of Proposition 4,” Deukmejian told members of the California Broadcasters Assn.

The governor’s comments on the spending limit approved by voters in 1979 came during a campaign-like swing through desert areas of Southern California that took him from this wealthy oasis to economically hard-pressed areas of Imperial County.

At a stop in Brawley, Deukmejian was heckled and jeered by farm workers protesting his appointments to the state Agricultural Labor Relations Board and the Administration’s alleged lack of enforcement of the farm labor law.

Hurl Verbal Taunts

About 75 demonstrators, identified by a spokesman as members of the United Farm Workers union, waved placards and red union flags and hurled verbal taunts at Deukmejian while he watched mariachi musicians and dancers perform outside a market the governor was touring.

Deukmejian played down the incident after being shown around the market, which is operated under a federal-state economic development grant. The same UFW protesters showed up later at a reception for Deukmejian in Brawley.

“They certainly have the right of free speech, and they have the right to express themselves. That’s a marvelous thing that we have here in the United States,” Deukmejian told reporters.

The governor defended the state’s enforcement of the farm labor law, saying that it is “fair and impartial.”

It was Deukmejian’s first visit to Imperial County since he took office in 1983. He toured businesses receiving state and federal economic development aid, such as La Providencia Market, and focused attention on the area’s 30% unemployment rate.

Effect of Spending Limit

The state government spending limit is important because Proposition 4 requires that surplus funds be returned to taxpayers once the limit is reached. On Monday, Legislative Analyst William G. Hamm told the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee that the governor’s proposed budget is $238 million over the limit.

Deukmejian, commenting on Hamm’s analysis for the first time, said he is sticking to estimates of state spending that were used to prepare his proposed budget for the 1986-87 fiscal year.

“I’m very confident in the estimates that have been made by the Department of Finance,” Deukmejian told reporters after his speech to the broadcast executives.

In other remarks during and after his speech to the broadcasters, Deukmejian defended the scheduled increase in the governor’s salary to $85,000, but suggested that retired state officials in line for whopping pension increases under the same pay-raise legislation give back some of the money to the state.

Cites Other Salaries

“There are many people who work in our office and in state agencies who already are paid far more than the governor,” Deukmejian said, defending next year’s scheduled increase in the governor’s pay from $49,100 to $85,000 a year.

Deukmejian, when asked later about the related increases in pension checks of retired former officeholders, which will boost the retirement pay of some to more than $100,000, suggested that even the former officials might consider the big pensions “unreasonable.”

“Maybe they’d like to make some contributions of the excess amount to the state or educational institutions,” he said.