Polanco Seeks Probe of County AIDS Spending

Los Angeles County may not spend up to $10 million of funds allocated for AIDS programs for the current fiscal year, AIDS activists said Friday, and a state legislator called for an audit to find out why.

“We are eight to nine years into the epidemic, and we are still trying to discover why monies are not being spent in one of the most heavily impacted regions,” said Assemblyman Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles). Polanco asked the state auditor general to examine the county Department of Health Services’ AIDS spending program.

Earmarked for Educational Programs

Much of the money left unspent was earmarked for educational programs designed to prevent the spread of AIDS and for testing and counseling.

County officials have estimated that $7.5 million of the $51.5 million allocated to combat the deadly disease and treat its victims for the fiscal year ending June 30 may go unspent. AIDS activists, however, project the amount of unspent funds will be $10 million.

“The overriding reason why monies are not spent in the initial period for which they are allocated has to do with the time it takes to get new programs up and running,” said John Schunoff, assistant director of the county AIDS program.

County officials hasten to add that funds will not be lost and can be applied to programs in the next fiscal year.

“The whole issue of AIDS is time,” said Michael Weinstein of the AIDS Hospice Foundation. “We don’t have time.” AIDS activists who joined Polanco at a news conference also expressed concern that any money left unspent will be used to supplant instead of supplement funds in next year’s county budget.

Sought Polanco’s Aid

Weinstein, who has been complaining for months that the county’s AIDS program is moving too slowly, said he finally decided to seek help from Polanco, a supporter of AIDS funding at the state level.

Typical of the delays, Weinstein said, was the county Board of Supervisors’ allocation Tuesday of funds to open privately operated AIDS hospices in Pomona and Willowbrook and to expand existing ones in Central Los Angeles and Van Nuys. The action came nearly a year after supervisors approved spending $2 million for the residential programs.

Schunoff attributed the delay to legal requirements for issuing contracts for AIDS programs.

Eunice Diaz, a public health consultant and member of the President’s Commission on AIDS, supported the audit, saying, “Our purpose is not to point a finger nor place blame but to remedy a desperate situation.”

Chris Brownlie, a founder of an AIDS hospice named after him and an AIDS patient, said: “The measure of the money spent is measured in the lives that are saved and the comfort that is given to the sick and the dying, people like myself. It is not a political issue. It is a deeply, deeply human, moral issue.

“That is why we must get to the bottom of where the money is and how it is spent. Every single penny allocated must be spent.”

Fewer Patients Cited

Bob Frangenberg, director of the county AIDS program, said that $2 million allocated for medical care of AIDS patients may go unspent because county hospitals are not treating as many patients as officials originally estimated. That money would then go to assist other patients.

But Weinstein contended that the county should be making a greater effort to inform AIDS patients of services. Frangenberg said the AIDS clinic at County-USC Medical Center is operating at capacity, while plans proceed to expand it.

Frangenberg said the department welcomes an audit. “We have nothing to hide,” he said, pointing out that county spending on AIDS has increased from $26 million allocated last year.

The Joint Committee on Legislative Audit will consider Polanco’s request at its meeting later this month, said a spokesman for Chairman Elihu M. Harris (D-Oakland).

About 6,900 AIDS cases have been confirmed in the county, including almost 4,500 that ended in death.