County Delay Urged on Jail-Booking Fee

Representatives of nearly every city in Orange County asked the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to reverse field and postpone imposing a controversial jail-booking fee intended to raise $2 million next year.

The board took no action but is expected to vote on the matter next month.

“We implore you today to defer the jail-booking fee until July 1 of next year, and we will help you identify other potential sources for this revenue,” Irvine Mayor Sally Anne Sheridan told the supervisors. “We strongly believe there are alternatives.”

The fee, which the board approved in principle in August, would charge cities and other agencies $75.50 for every inmate they book into County Jail. If imposed in January as planned, that would raise $2.1 million needed to balance the county’s budget this year.

The county was allowed to begin charging that fee as part of a budget package from Sacramento, which stripped the county of millions of dollars in funds but gave it authority to levy several new fees.

While the jail fee would give the county badly needed funds to pay for services, it is likely to create serious hardships for some city governments. Cities have already passed their budgets for this year, and some would be asked to absorb hundreds of thousands of dollars in cuts in order to cope with the new fees.

As a result, cities have loudly objected to the plan, accusing the Legislature and governor of pitting local governments against one another as they scramble to make up shortfalls caused by the state government.

Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young, who called the state’s action “a cynical trick of trickling this problem down,” urged supervisors to reject the fee and join with cities in lobbying lawmakers in Sacramento to reverse themselves on the issue.

During the session, the supervisors were noncommittal, and board Chairman Don R. Roth asked his colleagues to refrain from responding until the matter is before the board for a vote. That issue is expected to come before the supervisors in November.

But after the meeting, several supervisors said they share the cities’ concerns and hope that the Legislature can be persuaded to provide some relief for local governments.

“It may give us an opportunity to make a statement,” Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said. “The statement is, ‘We’re not going to take this kind of abuse any more from the state Legislature.’ ”

Vasquez, once a city of Orange police officer, complained that Sacramento lawmakers are “balancing their budget on the backs of the cities and counties.”

Echoing his sentiments, Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder said: “This is a battle that we have to do together. I think it is a flag around which we can rally.”

The more immediate issue for the county, however, is how to pay for this year’s budget, and so far no proposal is on the table to replace the $2.1 million it would lose if it deferred the booking fee.