County Pares Millions From Budget for Jails

Moving forcefully ahead to begin resolving a long-running controversy, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday tentatively approved nearly $7 million for construction of new jails and gave county administrators one month to find ways to increase spending on the financially strapped criminal justice system by at least $20 million.

By a unanimous vote, the supervisors adopted $6.9 million in budget cuts proposed by Chief Administrative Officer Norman Hickey to fund construction of a 600-bed temporary men’s jail. To provide a longer-range solution to the jail overcrowding problem, the supervisors also voted, 3-2, to direct Hickey to identify a minimum of $20 million in other budget reductions that could free additional funds to build new permanent jails and finance their operation.

“This isn’t the final solution by any means, but it shows that this board is willing to break its back to solve the problem,” Supervisor Susan Golding said.

Deeds Match Words

The supervisors’ action, coming 18 months after they declared a jail overcrowding crisis, marked the first time that they have matched deeds to words in the protracted debate over the inadequacies of the county’s jails.

Despite repeated hearings on the problem before Wednesday, no additional jail beds had been built since the crisis was declared in February, 1986, prompting Sheriff John Duffy--and others--to criticize the board for “lots of talk . . . but no money or action.”

Extremely sensitive on that point, the supervisors repeatedly emphasized Wednesday that they had studied various jail expansion plans during that time; they stressed that their approval of the budget cuts simply underlines their determination to solve the problem.

“It’s one step down a long road,” Supervisor Brian Bilbray said. “If nothing else, it’s a great leap. But there are a whole lot of big leaps we have to make.”

The board’s decision sets the stage for a showdown next week over whether the 600-bed temporary jail should be built adjacent to the Las Colinas women’s jail in Santee or on east Otay Mesa--a question that has divided the supervisors.

Bilbray and Golding favor the Las Colinas plan, which has drawn strong opposition from Santee officials who fear that the jail expansion would jeopardize their city’s redevelopment plans. As an alternative, Supervisor George Bailey, whose district includes Santee, has proposed the Otay Mesa site known as East Mesa, where the county plans to build an 850-bed jail later this decade. When that jail opens, Bailey notes, the temporary facility could be converted to a permanent honor camp.

Financing Question Settled

While the site of the proposed temporary jail remains undecided, Wednesday’s debate at least settled the thorny question of how to finance its construction, estimated at $6.3 million, amid the severe budget constraints already facing the county.

Last week, the supervisors suspended their hearings on the county’s $1.1-billion fiscal 1988 budget to give Hickey one week to try to find additional funds for jails. The budget cuts that Hickey proposed to the board Wednesday include $4.7 million in reductions in 23 county programs and departments, and $2.2 million in savings to be achieved via a 1% across-the-board cut in most county departments.

“The reason we did it across the board is not that we wanted to--we do not believe that is a good way to budget,” Assistant Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen told the board. “But in one week’s time, we did not feel we could . . . support any more specific budget cuts in departments.”

The 1% across-the-board cuts will reduce individual departments’ budgets by amounts ranging from $834 in the public administrator’s office to $314,748 in the Sheriff’s Department. Five other major departments and programs will face $100,000-plus reductions.

Of the 23 other specific budget cuts, the largest is a $700,000 reduction that would result from closure of the Probation Department’s San Jose Honor Camp, which has been plagued by sewer and water problems. The county’s travel budget would be cut by $150,000, lowering the total for next year to about $1 million, while other savings would be achieved through increases in election and planning fees, reductions in the number of cars that the county planned to purchase, delays in completion of a park and myriad other means.

Where to Look Next?

Janssen emphasized that county administrators will “definitely not look to” further across-the-board cuts in attempting to identify the additional $20 million in budget cuts that the supervisors believe is necessary to provide, in Golding’s words, “more than a stop-gap solution” to the jail overcrowding problem. In recent months, the inmate population in the six county jails has hovered around the 3,000 mark, nearly double the facilities’ capacity.

“That $20 million is going to come hard,” Janssen warned. To reach that figure, cuts in popular programs, such as parks and libraries, may be necessary, he added. The chief administrative officer’s staff is scheduled to report back to the board on the possible budget cuts by the end of July.

Although all of the supervisors agreed that the $6.9 million tentatively approved Wednesday is inadequate to fully address the problem, Bilbray and Supervisor Leon Williams voted against the request to identify the additional $20 million. Williams explained that he shared his colleagues’ goal but said he questioned the feasibility of redirecting an additional $20 million toward jails.