Counties Brace for the Worst With Signing of Budget

Gov. George Deukmejian, putting an end to the longest budget deadlock in state history, today is expected to sign a $54-billion-plus state budget after vetoing at least $419 million in spending approved by the Legislature.

The signing of the budget is the final action necessary to complete work on the spending plan. Once the budget is signed, the state will have the authority to meet a payroll to nearly 200,000 state employees due today, and meet other legal obligations.

Deukmejian will be affixing his signature to a budget that has been delayed longer than any other in the state’s 140-year history. The previous record was set in 1983, when Deukmejian, after a prolonged battle with the Legislature, did not sign the budget until July 21.

Meanwhile, Southern California county leaders nervously awaited Deukmejian’s final editing of the budget. Until then, they will not know how much money is available for the array of public services that counties provide, affecting hospitals, health clinics, trial courts, probation and jail supervision and treatment of mental illness, among others.

They don’t like what they see so far.

“I don’t see any way we can avoid cuts in health care,” said Richard B. Dixon, chief administrative officer for Los Angeles County. Similar sentiments were voiced Monday by officials in Orange, San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

“It is worse than our worst-case scenario,” said Orange County Health Care Agency Director Tom Uram. “I thought it would be bad, but it is worse.”

Santa Barbara County, still reeling from the financial burdens of last month’s disastrous wildfire, is contemplating reduced library hours and higher taxes, said James Laponis, a county assistant administrative officer.