Budget Requests Underscore County’s Unmet Needs

A homeless man asked for an increase in his $312 monthly welfare check. A woman who tearfully admitted to beating her 8-year-old daughter urged continuation of a treatment program for child abusers. And dozens of bureaucrats requested just about everything, from more gloves to protect the coroner’s staff from AIDS and other infectious diseases to an additional agricultural inspector to check traps for killer bees.

They were among the scores of people who traveled to the county Hall of Administration this week to speak for four minutes each at the Board of Supervisors’ budget hearings. Some came alone and politely asked the supervisors for more money. Others, including a hundred social workers upset about proposed increases in their already heavy caseloads, staged noisy demonstrations.

The nature of the requests portrayed a county government overwhelmed with unmet needs of the poor and the mentally ill and a jail system that has been forced to release offenders because of chronic overcrowding.

The problems facing the supervisors came to light amid continued uncertainty over how much the county will receive of the new-found $2.5-billion state surplus. Actual deliberations on the county’s proposed $9.2-billion spending plan will not begin until July, after supervisors know how much the county will receive from the state. But that decision will be made hundreds of miles away in the corridors, meeting rooms and private offices of the state Capitol.

Revenue Sources

The county relies on a mix of local revenue sources, including property taxes and special assessments, plus money from the state. The state money is used to run the courts, hospitals for the poor, mental health clinics and jails. But the state has reduced the amount of money available for such programs, even though costs have risen with the growing numbers of the mentally ill and the poor and increased arrests by law enforcement

Supervisors have some money--at least $750 million--which they can spend as they see fit. The conservative-dominated board in recent years has chosen to spend more for law enforcement and less on social programs. The proposed 1989-90 budget, drafted by the chief administrative officer, reflects that priority.

In the hearings, Chief Administrative Officer Richard Dixon expressed optimism that the county will receive enough of the state surplus to avert many, if not all, of the threatened cuts in health and other services.

But even if the state provides additional money, “it will not be enough to meet all of the problems that (supervisors) are agonizing over,” Dixon said.

“It’s still not a bright picture because of all the unmet needs,” said Supervisor Ed Edelman, a member of the board’s liberal minority.

Which programs will receive more funding will depend on how much the state provides and whether the money is earmarked for specific purposes. If the money comes with no strings attached, supervisors can spend it as they please.

The week’s public hearings, which ended Thursday, were required by law. Supervisors said they hoped the hearings would draw the attention of state leaders to the county’s problems, though the event most widely covered by television was an earthquake that sent the crowd sprinting to the exits.

The supervisors listened politely to advocates for the mentally ill and the poor, doctors and patients from county hospitals and mental health clinics, county labor union leaders and bureaucrats..

“Thanks for speaking,” Supervisor Kenneth Hahn said before anyone took the microphone. “But we have no money.”

He repeatedly implored speakers to “go to Sacramento” to lobby state officials for more aid to the county.

County welfare director Eddy Tanaka underscored the supervisors’ dilemma.

State law requires the county to provide general relief for indigents who are not eligible for other programs. However, the state does not provide any money to pay for the program. There are about 49,000 people on general relief and the number is growing, Tanaka told supervisors.

Office Closings

To meet this increase--and provide a $10 increase in the $312-a-month allowance--Tanaka has proposed closing four welfare offices.

“Overcrowded lobbies, long waits for service and increased complaints regarding service are predictable,” he told supervisors, assessing the impact of the proposed closures. “It is predictable that we will have an increase in the number of disturbances due to hostile clients.”

Supervisors also heard from a homeless man and from legal aid attorneys who asked for an increase in the general relief allowance.

“You present a real problem,” Hahn said to one of the speakers. “The only rentals are on Skid Row, and they’re $300 a month, and the (housing allowance) is only $200 a month.”

Parents of sexually abused children also urged supervisors in emotional testimony to save a program that provides treatment to the children and their families.

“Perpetrators are being healed in your program,” said the mother of a 6-year-old sexually abused child.

The woman who beat her 8-year-old daughter, who is now in a foster home, said that by court order her daughter cannot visit her home unless the family is enrolled in the program.

“I want to know which one of you,” she told supervisors while sobbing, “will tell my daughter she cannot come home.”

Some of the requests to supervisors dealt with more obscure areas of county government.

Pollutes Bay

An environmentalist urged supervisors to spend more to clean out the clutter that gathers in storm drains and pollutes Santa Monica Bay.

Agricultural Commissioner Leon Spaugy asked for money to hire an additional inspector to check traps for the Africanized honey bee, also known as the killer bee. He warned that the bee, reportedly headed toward California, can wreak havoc with domestic bee colonies and has been known to attack humans.

Some of those who spoke at the hearings questioned whether their testimony will have any impact on supervisors, who have their own pet programs. Supervisor Pete Schabarum, for example, has pledged to fight proposed cuts in the Museum of Natural History budget. Edelman has said he will seek to increase funding for drug treatment programs.

Several speakers complained about the absence of Supervisor Mike Antonovich from most of the four days of hearings. Antonovich was in Switzerland attending a conference on refugee relief. An aide said the supervisor will review a transcript of the hearings.