Officials Assail County’s Costs for Helicopters

Two elected county officials stirred up a political brouhaha Thursday by lashing out at Sheriff Brad Gates for operating a helicopter “air force” while other county offices face serious budget cuts in the upcoming fiscal year.

Treasurer-Tax Collector Robert L. Citron and Auditor-Controller Steve E. Lewis, in a letter to County Administrative Officer Larry Parrish, questioned whether the helicopters were a necessity, in light of the county supervisors’ demand that many departments prepare budgets that reflect a 22% cut from the current fiscal year.

“The question the board should determine is, what true priorities are in the county’s 1987-88 budget, which is currently in a disastrous position,” the two officials stated. “ . . . A few years ago the sheriff’s department did not have helicopters. They effectively were able to carry out their functions in that time without them.”

Caught by Surprise

Gates, interviewed Thursday, said he was caught by surprise by the Citron-Lewis letter.

“I consider Bob Citron a friend; I’m a little surprised,” Gates said.

The sheriff added that he could not comment until after he had read the letter but said that he has never been shy about defending “good law enforcement tools in this county.”

Lewis, however, said later that he got a telephone call from Gates and that the sheriff “was pretty upset. We didn’t mean for him to take it personally. But apparently he has.”

Lewis said he and Citron sent the letter because they are highly concerned about their office budgets and “we wanted to put some pressure on the supervisors and the CAO. “With a 22% budget cut, I’d be forced to lay off 100 people,” Lewis said. “This is a most serious situation.”

Citron and Lewis point out in their letter that the sheriff’s helicopter operation costs $1.5 million annually. The money goes for maintenance of the two helicopters, Duke I and Duke II, salaries for around-the-clock staff and working capital for future replacement of helicopters.

The supervisors first approved a helicopter patrol program for the Sheriff’s Department in the 1984-1985 budget. Duke I took to the air in May, 1985. Since then there have been some political rumblings about Gates’ running a helicopter operation when, some suggested, the money should have gone for improving jail conditions. But no one has mounted a serious threat against the helicopters at budget hearings.

The two officials asked in their letter that the supervisors study the helicopter issue and other large budgetary items which might be eliminated.

Lewis said in an interview that “other things besides the helicopters could have been singled out. That was just the one that came to mind. It’s been a politically hot issue.”

Cuts as High as 22%

County department heads were told in a meeting on May 4 that budget cuts they had been told about--at 6% to 12%--could go as high as 22%. Several offices, including Citron’s and Lewis’, were told to prepare budgets with 22% cuts.

Parrish has called the upcoming budget picture “the worst budget forecast I’ve ever had to deal with.”

Larry M. Leaman, director of the Social Services Agency, said a 22% budget cut in his office could mean a layoff of nearly 400 people.

What troubles many department heads is that Parrish cited expected increases in criminal justice as a main reason for the requested budget cuts. The primary increase would be in the Sheriff’s Department budget, to cover the cost of long-planned jail expansion, plus extra facilities ordered by a federal judge to reduce overcrowding at the Orange County Jail.

Citron and Lewis stated in their letter that, despite Parrish’s assurance that cuts in criminal justice will be looked at too, there has been some suspicion among department heads that “the Sheriff’s Department will still end up with most everything, as in previous years.”

Others Available

“The Sheriff’s Department undoubtedly has good justification for their continuance of keeping the two helicopters,” Citron and Lewis stated. “They can probably point out times when the helicopter has been used to save lives.”

But the two added that there are other helicopters available in the county, such as those in the cities of Anaheim and Huntington Beach and those at the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station.

Spreading that $1.5 million for helicopters over other county programs may not seem like much, the two officials stated, but “every dollar helps in a budgetary situation which is in a precarious position.”

Gates’ only other comment about the letter was that using the military in the past as a back up for the county’s needs “was never an effective situation.”

One county official who asked not to be identified said the Citron-Lewis letter “is bound to create a lot of excitement around here.”

Another department head called it “a daring, courageous move, given the internal politics around here.”

The supervisors have emphasized that no final decisions have been made about any department’s budget cuts.