County’s Fiscal Chief Gleans Good News From State Budget : Government: There’s language that may allow substantial hikes in fees and taxes, which could staunch red ink. But what gives bureaucrats hope could enrage the public.

County budget chief Ronald S. Rubino spent Wednesday morning finding some nuggets of good news buried in an otherwise bleak half-inch stack of gubernatorial budget vetoes, many of which stripped Orange County and its residents of money for government services.

Between the 77 pages of vetoes and the already-lean state budget, the county was staring in the face of what experts predict could amount to more than $46 million in red ink, a daunting prospect for a budget director.

“We’re all a little numb,” conceded Rubino, the county’s assistant administrative officer for management and budget. “There’s just so many cuts in so many areas. It’s going to take us some time to figure out what it all means.”

Still, Rubino and other officials found that while the shortfalls remain huge, especially in health care programs, the state budget does contain a few gems for Orange County. As a result, they said, the county’s budget outlook may be brighter than it appeared at first.

“Some of the fees that the state is allowing us to charge could turn out to be very significant,” Rubino said. “As I’m reading this material this morning, I’m seeing language that may help us out a great deal.”

Rubino was cautious about predicting how much the new fees might generate, and declined to guess at exact numbers until he and his staff can research the matter. He added, however, that his “gut instinct” suggests that the county might be able to reduce its shortfall to between $17 million and $20 million by raising fees.

That won’t necessarily be easy, though. County supervisors were not thrilled Wednesday to hear that they will have to anger constituents by raising taxes and fees in order to preserve programs that are suffering because of cuts made by the state government.

“I’m not sure that we’re all prepared to go in and raise all these fees,” said Supervisor Don R. Roth, the board’s chairman. “This is typical of the way the state acts: They cut the programs and then tell us to make up the difference.”

Supervisor Roger R. Stanton echoed Roth’s concern about raising taxes as well as his anger toward the state. “I have a real reluctance to jump at these so-called opportunities to raise taxes,” Stanton said. “I am deeply disappointed in the governor and the Legislature. I think this is a real slap in the face for Orange County.”

Refusing to raise fees, however, would only deepen cuts to county programs, and that would carry political consequences as well. With county groups lobbying hard to preserve as many health and law enforcement programs as possible, the supervisors are expected to face pressure to consider at least some new fees.

“We are going to be pursuing every opportunity that is out there,” promised County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider. “It’ll be up to the board whether it approves them, but we’re going to bring everything to them.”

Four of the proposals seem to have significant potential for raising money. In particular, Rubino noted that a state-sanctioned fee allowing counties to charge cities and school districts for booking inmates into county jail facilities could raise millions of dollars a year.

As approved by Gov. George Deukmejian, the jail-booking fee allows counties to recover “full costs” of the procedure, including such expenses as county overhead and administration. That is compared to more narrowly defined costs that might just extend to billing for the paper work and the salaries of the workers who prepare it.

The state’s budget also lets the county impose fees to recover the cost of collecting property taxes that it passes along to schools and city governments--a proposal that could raise more than $4 million to $5 million--and to levy business license fees in the unincorporated areas of the county.

Initially, the business license fees were intended simply to recover costs of issuing and monitoring permits, but Rubino said the final budget appears to give counties permission to use the levy to raise revenue.