Park District Dissolved to Meet the Gann Limit : County Says Operations Won’t Be Affected, but Commission Spokesman Is ‘Highly Suspicious’

In a bid to keep the county from reaching the so-called Gann limit on government spending, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a plan to dissolve the Orange County Harbors, Beaches and Parks District.

Under the plan, revenue that traditionally has gone to the district would go into the general fund, though county officials say the money still would be limited to district uses and the parks system operation would be unaffected.

However, one critic of the plan called it a “highly suspicious” way of circumventing spending restrictions imposed by the electorate. Another portrayed it as the first step toward diminishing the park system’s future resources.

“We have many concerns regarding this action,” said Leonard H. McKain, a member of the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Commission who said he was speaking on behalf of the seven-member panel. “Chief among them is that when we’ve reached the (Gann) limit again at some later date, the fund will be vulnerable.”

The board’s action, taken in a 4-0 vote with Chairman Harriett M. Wieder absent, gave preliminary approval to the plan, which now goes to the Local Agency Formation Commission. If LAFCO gives its go-ahead, the plan would have to gain final, unanimous approval from the supervisors.

Gann Initiative’s Provisions

“It grieves us to have to take this action,” Supervisor Thomas F. Riley said before Tuesday’s vote, “but the Gann limit has forced the county to take some action.”

The limit was imposed in 1979 by Proposition 4, known as the Gann Initiative. Under the measure, which affects the state, county and municipal governments in California, spending limits are computed under a complex formula.

When more revenue is collected than can be legally spent, either the money must be refunded to taxpayers or taxpayer permission must be obtained to raise the spending limit.

Dissolving the Harbors, Beaches and Parks District in Orange County allows officials to forgo both remedies, according to Jim McConnell, manager of general accounting for the county’s auditor-controller.

McConnell said the county’s revenue intake is increasing by about 9% annually while increases in the Gann ceiling are rising at only about 5%.

With more than two months to go in the fiscal year, he said, the county is within $1 million of the $341-million spending limit imposed upon it this year.

The Harbors, Beaches and Parks District, on the other hand, will spend only $24 million of the $78 million it is allowed under the Gann limit, McConnell said.

If the district is dissolved, its Gann allowance would go to the general fund, increasing its 1987-88 limit by $54 million.

‘Nothing Will Change’

John Sibley, an associate county administrator, said the dissolution would not affect the operation of the county’s recreational lands, which have been under the jurisdiction of the Harbors, Beaches and Parks District since 1934, when the district was created.

“Nothing will change. The commission will remain the same,” Sibley said.

Through a modification in their resolution endorsing the dissolution plan, he said, the supervisors stipulated that tax increments specifically levied for the operation of harbors, beaches and parks must remain separate from the rest of the general fund.

But the Harbor, Beaches and Parks Commission’s McKain said future supervisors could remove that protection with a resolution of their own, a fear that was also expressed by Virginia Chester, a member of the Sea and Sage chapter of the Audubon Society.

Chester chided the supervisors for what she called “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

“The county should be looking for permanent solutions to its problems instead of juggling books,” she said. “This is a short-term, highly suspicious way of getting around spending limits set by the voters.”