County Expresses Anger at Lack of Mental Health Aid

Frustrated by the lack of state dollars for local programs, two Los Angeles County supervisors suggested Tuesday that the county turn over the operations of its financially strapped mental health program to state officials.

In a broadside that reflected exasperation over the county’s latest funding crisis, Supervisor Pete Schabarum complained that local officials have been “whipsawed by state under-funding and court injunctions” in trying to run their mental health program.

Board Chairman Deane Dana, noting that the state once operated local mental health programs, also voiced distress at what he said was the lack of state financial support for mental health.

“I don’t know why we don’t just hand back mental health to the state and say, ‘You run it,’ ” he told his colleagues.

Dim Prospects

The proposals enabling the state to take over the mental health program may require legislative approval, and those prospects are dim. But the bitter words over who should run and who should pay for mental health services point to a growing hostility that local elected officials are displaying toward their counterparts in Sacramento.

“This is almost like a state of high comedy and error,” Supervisor Ed Edelman said, “except the stakes are not high comedy and people are going to do a lot of suffering.”

In opening a new round of budget cuts Tuesday, the board listened grimly as Chief Administrative Officer Richard B. Dixon told them that they must slash another $36.2 million from county departments to balance its budget. Included were proposals to reduce such normally protected areas as law enforcement, fire protection and other public safety programs.

The layoffs of 73 county workers, most of them in the Parks and Recreation Department, also were suggested.

Even a proposal that the county add 28 toxic waste inspectors to help prevent such recent incidents as the chemical gas leak that enveloped several Eastside communities was put on hold by supervisors because of the county’s uncertain financial situation.

Health officials, backed by Edelman, had pressed Tuesday to add the new inspectors to the county’s Hazardous Materials Control Program and bolster a staff that presently has 17 people to identify and license hazardous waste producers.

Leak at Chemical Plant

Health officials contend that the additional inspectors may have helped prevent the fire and gas leak at a Commerce chemical plant that led to the evacuation of 28,000 Eastside residents. Inspectors had cited the company last month for failing to dispose of hazardous waste, but the lack of manpower prevented the inspectors from following up on those citations, officials said.

Health Director Robert Gates told board members that the $1.2-million cost of adding 28 new inspectors would be met from the licensing fees of businesses that handle hazardous wastes. But board members refused to approve the additional personnel until the county’s financial situation can be clarified next week.

In all, the county faces a $96.6-million deficit in its 1988-89 spending program, Dixon said, because the legislatively approved budget did not contain full state funding for trial courts.

Of the projected deficit, $36.2 million is in the form of cuts made in a new round of economizing made necessary by the final state figures on trial court funding, which were lower than anticipated. The county had been counting heavily on the state to assume all of this cost.

The latest cuts include $5 million from the Sheriff’s and Fire departments as well as fewer service hours at county parks and recreational facilities.

Earlier, the county had already earmarked the Children’s Services Department for $4 million in cuts while the mental health department has been targeted for $15.4 million in cuts. Included in the latter are the closures of some mental health outpatient clinics.

Last month, a Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the county from going through with the mental health cuts. But county lawyers said Tuesday they expect to file an appeal this week to try to overturn the court order.

The county is also relying on the passage of Proposition 99--the tobacco tax initiative on the November ballot--to provide $41 million for health care programs.