Sheriff Warns of Dangers to Public in Budget Crunch

Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates, angered by budget constraints on his department, accused county officials in a letter made public Wednesday of “poor planning and poor management” that he said will contribute to slower emergency response times and an increase in crime.

“Without additional resources, the only way we have to respond to these needs is to spread our existing resources thinner and thinner,” Gates wrote in a letter to County Administrative Officer Larry Parrish dated Monday.

“This has increased our average response time on emergency calls for services to an unacceptable level.”

Expanding ‘Danger Threshold’

Gates said that existing financial shortages have already contributed to an increase in major crimes and that a few more minutes added to the response time could “expand the danger threshold for many victims.”

“For you and your staff to ignore these factors based on a lack of funds is not realistic,” the sheriff wrote.

The letter, made public by Parrish’s office on the opening day of hearings on the county’s fiscal 1987-88 budget, underscored the pressures on county officials, who are compiling the most austere budget the county has put together in years.

The budget provides for no growth in any county programs or departments and includes no salary increases, county officials said.

Parrish said Wednesday that 197 county jobs, including 74 now filled, are expected to disappear under the current plan.

The Board of Supervisors tentatively approved a $1.7-billion budget in June for the fiscal year that began July 1. This week’s hearings, which continue today, will lead to a final board vote in August.

Sensitive Areas

Today, the supervisors will consider Gates’ budget requests for the sheriff’s department. The board will also tentatively decide today on funding for some other sensitive areas of the budget, including the Social Services Agency, Health Care Agency, the district attorney’s office, the public defender’s office and the Probation Department.

The Health Care Agency, which could lose at least 40 positions, is considering dropping several programs and closing its Garden Grove mental health clinic. The Probation Department is facing a reduction of 72 positions.

Earlier estimates had called for layoffs of more than 300 county employees, but several million dollars from unexpected state grants and transfers of money from one county fund to another have allowed that number to be cut to 197.

That money has also led Parrish’s office to recommend increases in budgeted amounts for several departments, giving public safety the highest priority. Parrish’s office proposed that the sheriff’s department be granted about $1.1 million more than what it was originally allocated for fiscal 1987-88.

Increased Costs

But Gates wrote his letter after the additional money was recommended, said Assistant Sheriff Dennis LaDucer, chief of operations. Gates said more money is needed because of increased costs and new duties for the sheriff’s office, including the prisoner Intake and Release Center that is scheduled to open soon and price increases in insurance, telephone, transportation and overtime.

“This is unrealistic, poor planning and poor management,” Gates wrote. “We cannot ignore justified mandatory expenses. Your approach to our budget must be reasonable.”

Parrish did not respond to Gates’ letter Wednesday. His programs manager, Richard L. Pickryl, said: “There’s no comment on that at this time.”

He added only that the sheriff’s letter was “duly noted.”

At the hearings Wednesday, Parrish warned the supervisors about dipping into the $19-million county contingency fund reserved for unexpected costs.

But in the first day of hearings, which focused mainly on the budgets for county administrative offices, the supervisors took about $300,000 from the contingency fund to replace positions that would be lost under Parrish’s recommendations, so if the board decided to replace positions or programs cut in Parrish’s newest budget recommendations, they might tap that fund again.

The supervisors Wednesday replaced three positions in the Internal Audit Division. Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, who recommended the additions, said the positions should pay for themselves by maintaining quality control in the government.

The supervisors replaced three other deleted positions in the auditor-controller’s office, the accounting department and the personnel department.

Before their vote, Parrish told the supervisors, “In the budget before you, many useful items are not provided for, and in some cases it is not clear that the amounts recommended will be sufficient to see programs through the whole year.

“We need to realize the value and the need for as large a contingency fund as possible to allow for some flexibility to periodically conduct review of the decisions made in the atmosphere of these hearings,” he said.