Supervisors Tap Savings, Fund All Major Services

After months of dire budget forecasts, the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Thursday dug deep into its savings account for emergencies and tentatively approved a budget that pays for all of the county’s major services.

In the Health Care Agency, where officials earlier this week were bracing to lose at least 40 positions and more than a dozen programs, the supervisors appropriated about $1.2 million more than County Administrative Officer Larry Parrish recommended, leaving the agency almost fully funded.

After the hearings, officials said it appeared county health care programs would not lose any employees and the Garden Grove mental health clinic, which had drawn crowds of concerned families to the supervisors’ chambers, will remain open.

The supervisors also added more than $500,000 to the Probation Department allocation proposed by Parrish. And they passed Parrish’s proposal for 14 new posi tions in the district attorney’s office and 11 more jobs in the public defender’s office.

Sheriff Brad Gates, who complained in a letter this week that the budget constraints in his department would contribute to an increase in crime, was granted an additional $1 million, according to Parrish’s recommendation. But the sheriff still stood to lose at least 16 positions.

Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said he figured that Gates may come back to the board for more money when a new Intake and Release Center is opened soon.

But Vasquez added: “I think it’s fair to say that given the very severe constraints that we had to operate with, a lot of the concerns of the community and the agencies were addressed. The vital services have been retained at a reasonable level.”

Roger R. Stanton, board chairman, said: “I think they (the public) can take consolation. You’ll never reach a position where some advocates will say, ‘That’s enough.’ ”

Last month, the supervisors tentatively approved a $1.7-billion budget for the fiscal year that began July 1. At that time, the county stood to lose more than 300 positions.

But in the last few weeks, county officials have received unanticipated money from the state government and from final calculations on funds remaining from the previous fiscal year. They also took more than $15 million from a lucrative landfill management account to help alleviate the immediate costs of building new jail facilities.

State Money

Earlier this week, county officials announced that the Social Services Agency, which was expected to lose more than 90 positions, would be almost fully funded from unanticipated state money approved by the governor a few weeks ago.

Officials said after the vote they were not yet certain how many positions the county now stood to lose. They were also trying to determine how much money remained in the contingency fund, which the county saves as a cushion for emergency appropriations.

All of the money allocated by the supervisors Thursday that exceeded Parrish’s recommendation came from the contingency fund.

Auditor-controller Steve E. Lewis had recommended that the contingency fund not go below $20 million. And Parrish told supervisors that $15 million is the “rock bottom.”

The officials said if the fund goes below the prescribed levels, the county could run the risk of going bankrupt in a severe emergency. The contingency fund is also a factor for major investment companies in calculating the county’s credit rating.

After about $600,000 in extra appropriations Wednesday, the contingency fund started Thursday at about $18.6 million. Stanton said after the hearings he was confident it remained above $15 million.

But, he said, “$15 million is very, very low.”

In voting for the extra appropriations, Stanton said, the supervisors decided that “we’re going to try and hold onto as many people as we can.”

Restored Programs

In the Health Care Agency, the supervisors also restored several other programs, including emergency dental care for indigents, a quality control office for drug abuse centers, family planning programs, a team to control wild animals and an employee program meant to reduce health risks.

The Garden Grove mental health clinic was fully funded for nine months, at which point its present lease expires and it will be forced to find another location. The supervisors appropriated another three months of funds at a reduced level, although county officials are having trouble finding a location for a new mental health office.

About $800,000 of the Human Services budget requests--which includes the Health Care Agency, the Social Services Agency and the Community Services Agency--remained without money after the supervisors voted Thursday. The total Human Services budget is about $385 million.

The Probation Department, which earlier had expected to lose 96 positions, will not immediately lose any jobs. About 30 of its positions, however, were funded for only a portion of the upcoming year.

The supervisors asked for a report back from the Probation Department in six months analyzing the cost-effectiveness of retaining those jobs for the rest of the year.

Michael A. Schumacher, chief probation officer, said two programs were also only partially funded. One is an in-home incarceration program, in which paroled prisoners are monitored at home electronically. The other is a work furlough program that allows prisoners to hold jobs during the day and return to jail each night.

The cost-effectiveness of both programs will also be included in the six-month report, Schumacher said. He said he believes that both programs save the county money by removing some burdens on jail personnel and facilities.

Gates, who did not speak at the hearings, said he believed he was going to lose up to 40 positions under the current funding level and that most of the losses would be deputies.

But with the increase from Parrish’s recommendation, county administrative analysts calculated the number of lost positions in the sheriff’s office at 16.

Gates wrote an angry letter to Parrish on Monday, accusing his staff of “poor planning and poor management” and predicting that the budget shortfall would show up in higher crime rates.

Supervisors decide not to seek a property-tax increase for a new jail until 1988. Page 7.