Budget Plan Has Good News for Campuses, Bad for Poor

Gov. George Deukmejian’s proposed 1990 state budget would earmark more than $17 million for Cal State San Marcos to prepare California’s newest university for its first class of 250 full-time students this fall, but it contains bad news for San Diego County’s poor.

The proposed $54.1-billion budget, unveiled Wednesday by Deukmejian and his last before he leaves office, also allocates millions of dollars for other higher-education and park concerns in the county, including increased maintenance and lifeguards for beaches at Carlsbad and San Onofre.

But the spending plan packs ominous signs for county drivers: Unless voters throughout the state agree to a 9-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax increase this summer, construction on $785 million worth of San Diego road projects will be delayed or scuttled.

Projects jeopardized in the transportation plan include the widening of Interstate 5 from Del Mar Heights Road to Interstate 805 and the first phase of extending I-15 south from Mission Valley along 40th Street, according to a list compiled by the state Department of Transportation.

“In effect, what it will do is delay everything, and we can only guess as to how long at this point,” said Jim Larson, spokesman for the Caltrans district office in San Diego.

However, the budget would allocate $17 million for track improvements on the Los Angeles-to-San Diego Amtrak line.

Meanwhile, another kind of traffic--drug traffic across the international border--may suffer as well under the proposed spending plan. Deukmejian announced Tuesday night that the California National Guard will receive $10 million in federal grants to help local law enforcement agencies apprehend drug runners in San Diego, the Imperial Valley and other entry points.

Deukmejian’s budget includes a $5-million loan for the proposed San Diego Olympic Sports Training Facility in the South Bay, a loan that is supposed to be repaid through sale of special license plates.

At the same time, the plan contains bad news for San Diego County’s poor. Deukmejian has proposed deep cuts in social programs that would require families on welfare to forgo millions of dollars in expected benefit increases.

The total impact of Deukmejian’s budget on San Diego County residents will not be known for weeks, maybe months, as legislative analysts and lawmakers roll up their sleeves to plow through the hundreds of pages of the plan. Legislators have until June to debate the proposal and hand it back to the governor with their suggested cuts or increases.

But, at first blush, San Diego County officials say, the plan does not hold good news for the area poor and mentally ill. Estimates show that, although Deukmejian has increased the social service budget, welfare and health programs would need $1 billion more to maintain their current level of service.

“Recognizing that this is our preliminary view, it suggests that we will be looking at some reductions in service delivery and some health and welfare programs as a result of these proposed cuts,” said John Sweeten, the county’s director of intergovernmental affairs.

For instance, Deukmejian intends to freeze welfare benefits at current levels, Sweeten said. That translates into $18 million less for San Diego welfare recipients than if the governor had allowed the cost-of-living increase to go through.

In the area of mental health, San Diego County’s budget, already meager by state standards, would suffer even more. Deukmejian’s budget would probably mean $1.5 million less for the area’s mentally ill.

Not all is woe, however. Sweeten said the governor intends to increase some allowances to pay medical care for the poor--a move that would give the county a one-time, $4-million windfall in 1990.

And, in terms of brick and mortar, San Diego has some clear winners in the Deukmejian budget, which sets aside nearly $100 million in buildings for area colleges and universities.

The plan allows for $8.3 million to operate Cal State San Marcos, the North County campus that was added to the extensive California State University system last year. Those funds--enough to pay the salaries of 121 administrators, professors and other college employees--will suffice for the infant campus to admit its first 250 full-time students in the fall, according to the budget.

Besides the money to operate Cal State San Marcos, Deukmejian made room for $9 million in capital improvements, including $4.57 million for its initial buildings and $2 million to acquire books for its library.

At UC San Diego, Deukmejian wants to spend $59.1 million--the biggest chunk for any single campus. The amount includes $42 million for a 111,000-square-foot science building, $6.5 million for an addition to the central library and nearly $1.2 million to help improve access for the handicapped.

Area parks, from the beaches to the desert, would be bolstered under the plan. The governor wants to add lifeguards and maintenance employees to patrol newly expanded areas of the Carlsbad and San Onofre state beaches, while continuing the state’s program to buy up nearly 4,500 acres near Ocotillo Wells for off-road vehicle enthusiasts.

Although dune buggy riders were cheered by the Deukmejian budget, more traditional motorists received glum news. Unless voters approve the gasoline tax increase, there will be a $533 deficit in the transportation projects.

And that means the state will put several key projects on hold. Some of those are in the Sorrento Valley, where Caltrans wants to widen I-5 south of Del Mar and do more construction on the interchange of I-5 and California 56.