Supervisors Adopt Unprecedented Fees Along With $1.6-Billion Budget

The Board of Supervisors on Wednesday gave tentative approval to a $1.6-billion county budget for 1990-91 that includes $13.5 million in administrative fees that will be charged to special districts, including school districts.

The county will impose the controversial fees for its services in collecting property taxes for the districts. About $9 million in fees will come from school districts, and the rest will come from cities and special districts. There are 45 school districts and five community college districts in San Diego County.

County spokesman Robert Lerner said the unprecedented fees will be used to help offset a $21-million shortfall in state funds for the county’s medical programs for the working poor. During the current fiscal year, the County Medical Services health program for the poor had a $41-million budget. However, that will be reduced to $20 million beginning Oct. 1, when the new fiscal year begins.

Overall, the county will lose $23 million in state funds in the coming fiscal year.

Although the state Legislature passed a law to allow counties to impose the administrative fees, county officials expect local educators to challenge the fees either in court or by lobbying legislators to change the law.

If the fees are successfully challenged or repealed, the county’s medical programs for the working poor could be eliminated entirely as early as next February, Lerner said.

“This means that health care for 25,000 persons will be stopped. You’ll have an awful lot of working people who cannot afford to pay for health care on their own going without it,” Lerner said.

The county contracts with nonprofit community clinics to provide health care for the working poor. On Tuesday, representatives from various clinics were at the board meeting to express their concern over the funding shortage and possible elimination of the program.

Reluctant supervisors voted 4 to 1 to impose the administrative fees. Only Supervisor John MacDonald, a former educator, voted against the fees.

“It was a protest vote more than anything,” MacDonald said. “Although the county needs to backfill some important health programs, the way the Legislature forced us into raising those fees was tantamount to being unethical.”

“The formula imposed on us by the Legislature was not fair. It had nothing to do with the size of the districts. It only had to do with the amount of taxes. There are some small districts that will have $250,000 obligations. I felt it was a real unfair formula.”

According to MacDonald, schools will pay $100 million in administrative fees in California because of the new law. The San Diego Unified School District is expected to pay about $3 million in fees.

Thomas Boysen, superintendent of the County Office of Education, called the fee a way of “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” Although Boysen blamed the state for forcing the board to take action on the fees, he complained that the county is attempting to balance its budget by “taking $9 million away from schoolchildren.”

“There is definitely going to be a challenge at the state level. I think the California School Board Assn. will get all the school districts together and file one lawsuit,” Boysen said.

In another effort to raise revenue, cash-starved supervisors also voted to charge a booking fee to cities for all prisoners in the county jails. County officials estimated that the fee will raise about $3 million in new funds, which will be used to help run the jails.

San Diego would be exempted from paying the booking fee because of an agreement that it signed with the county last year, Lerner said. However, the board directed its jail subcommittee to reopen talks with San Diego in hopes of getting the city to agree to pay the fee.

Other features in the budget approved by the board:

* Reducing the Superior Court budget by nearly $1 million and the Municipal Court’s by more than $555,000.

* Reducing the county marshal’s budget by $275,000.

* Allocating $2.5 million more for alternate defense counsel contracts for indigent defendants.

* Directing the chief administrative officer to find ways to implement a 3% across-the-board reduction in general fund expenditures beginning Jan. 1, 1991.

The chief administrative officer is expected to offer a pro forma resolution for approval of the budget at the board’s Sept. 25 meeting. Final approval is expected Oct. 2.