Tentative OK Given Final Components of County Budget

The Board of Supervisors on Thursday rejected a last-minute plea to increase indigent health care, then gave tentative approval to the final components of the county’s $2.2-billion 1988-89 budget.

Representatives of several health care groups appeared at a public hearing before the board’s vote to ask the supervisors to allocate at least $1 million more than the $33 million proposed for the Indigent Medical Services fund. They said the county is facing a crisis in serving indigent and mentally ill patients, partly because it is spending less on health care than almost any other major county in California.

“The crisis has deepened . . . and more women, children and men in affluent Orange County are suffering from health problems,” Chauncey A. Alexander, chairman of the United Way Health Care Task Force, told the board. “We are going backward another year in dealing with a hemorrhaging health care system.”

After the testimony, the supervisors unanimously passed the Indigent Medical Services fund without the increase. They told the groups that the county is financially strapped and that the problem is in Sacramento, where legislators have not provided enough money to pay for rising health care costs.

They pledged to join forces with the community groups to press their case for more money in Sacramento.

“The concerns expressed today show again the need for continued lobbying at the state,” Supervisor Don R. Roth told the groups. “It’s serious, and it’s going to take an all-out effort.”

The supervisors Thursday concluded two days of hearings on the 1988-89 budget. Their tentative votes during the hearings will be compiled in a final budget that is expected to be adopted late next month.

A preliminary budget was adopted June 30 for the fiscal year that began July 1.

In addition to the health care budgets, the supervisors on Thursday also considered financing for the Sheriff’s Department, district attorney, public defender, Fire Department and marshal’s office.

As they have for every department, the supervisors Thursday approved “level” budgets, meaning that they would maintain all the present staff and services without any new expenses. Many of the departments had requested staff increases or funding for new equipment or programs, but they were denied.

No More Deputies

Sheriff Brad Gates said he has a shortage of staff to operate the jails, but his request for more deputies was turned down.

“I wouldn’t have asked for more people if I thought we could handle it the way we are,” he said. “Our people are just going to have to work a little harder, and we’re going to have to tighten our belts.”

Last month the deputies’ union said the staffing shortage at the jail was so serious that it had compromised the safety of officers and prisoners.

The Sheriff’s Department also asked for money to start a drug education program for students and to buy the latest equipment in criminal identification, which analyzes a person’s cell structure or DNA. The supervisors encouraged both plans but said the money would have to be found elsewhere.

Gates said the county will consider sharing the cost of the criminal identification equipment with other local law enforcement agencies.

And the sheriff said his department might be able to use money from property seizures to pay for his drug education program.

COUNTY OPERATING BUDGET Community Safety $272,421,787 Human Services $438,759,485 Environmental Management $77,311,262 General Services $89,622,136 General Administration $87,688,481