Deep-Cut County Budget Unveiled but the Mood Is Upbeat

A $9.2-billion Los Angeles County budget was proposed Friday, and officials said there is a prospect of even more money on the way from the state to avert long-threatened cuts in health and other services.

“With $2.5 billion in surplus funds sitting in Sacramento, I am quite optimistic,” Chief Administrative Officer Richard B. Dixon said in unveiling a 1989-90 spending proposal that calls for deep cuts in many services.

Dixon’s proposed budget, which goes to the Board of Supervisors next week, was written before state officials announced earlier this week there would be an unexpected surplus in the state’s own revenues that could be used to help local governments and schools.

The prospect of more aid from the state lent an unusually upbeat air to the annual county budget unveiling, fraught in recent years with dire warnings of deep cutbacks.

Among the threatened cuts have been more closings of mental health clinics. The cutback plans, backed by the Board of Supervisors, had touched off widespread protests among advocates for the poor and for the mentally ill of all economic classes. But county officials had insisted on them because of pending reductions in state aid.

That changed this week when Gov. George Deukmejian announced the surplus.

Senate President Pro Tem David Roberti (D-Los Angeles), proposed this week that $250 million of the surplus be given immediately to counties to save their health facilities. Los Angeles County would get about $100 million of that.

An aide to Roberti said that next week, lawmakers and Deukmejian will be working together on compromise plans for aid to counties that would include money for health care.

This weekend, the aide said, legislative staff members will be drawing up preliminary plans for lawmakers to act on during the week.

The preparations for more talks between Democratic legislative leaders and the Republican governor on more aid to counties demonstrated how the surprise state surplus has put a new twist on this year’s budget deliberations.

It also points up the crucial role of the county supervisors, with their conservative Republican majority. The supervisors are in a position to use their clout with Deukmejian while also trying to win the support of liberal Democratic legislative leaders.

This delicate political dance becomes central in deciding whether more money is given to Los Angeles County to avert the $143 million in proposed cuts outlined in Dixon’s proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

While Dixon expressed hope that the state will bail out the county, his aides said that listing the cuts in the proposed budget will put pressure on the governor and Legislature.

Among the facilities targeted for closure in the proposed budget are the Pediatric Pavilion at County-USC Medical Center; eight public health centers; four welfare offices; 14 probation camps, and five fire-suppression camps.

Also proposed is the closure of two mental health clinics, in addition to eight now targeted for closure because of a shortfall in the current budget.

Possible Outcome

Dixon said the proposed budget presents a “reasonably accurate picture of what will have to happen in this county” if the county does not receive a share of the state surplus.

But, he said, “I don’t think the final county budget will be nearly as bad as this.”

“The odds are very good that substantial relief for critical health and safety programs can be worked out. All the word that I hear is that there is a cooperative attitude among people who have not always been cooperative.”

The proposed budget, which represents a 1.7% increase over the current year’s spending plan, provides increased funding to relieve jail overcrowding and court congestion. That reflects the strong law-enforcement priorities that have characterized the board’s conservative majority of Mike Antonovich, Deane Dana and Pete Schabarum over the last nine years.

The proposed budget includes an additional $9 million for an AIDS ward, scheduled to open in September at County-USC Medical Center, and for increased AIDS education. The proposed boost in AIDS funding comes at a time when supervisors, particularly the conservative majority, have come under strong criticism for not being aggressive enough in fighting the epidemic.

Overall, the Health Services Department would take the worst beating under Dixon’s proposal--suffering an $82-million cut. Also impacted, however, is the county Museum of Art, which would be forced to open two hours later because of a proposed $600,000 cut in its budget.

“We are a dependent of the state,” Dixon said. “We’re sort of like a teen-ager whose parents have just inherited money from their rich aunt. We hope that our parents will remember us in this time of need.”

The spending plan will be presented Tuesday to supervisors, who will call for public hearings before debating changes.