Liberal Supervisors May Not Have Funds for Their Agenda

During the 1980s, the three-member conservative majority on the County Board of Supervisors voted together so consistently to cut health and welfare programs that county labor unions wrote a jingle: “Three-to-Two, Three-to-Two, We Always Know What They’ll Do.”

So when the board’s new liberal majority began budget hearings last month, they were greeted by AIDS activists and advocates for the poor and labor unions chanting: “Hey, Hey, What Do You Say, New Priorities Start Today.”

But as supervisors begin deliberations today on a proposed $11.9-billion budget, hopes for sweeping changes in spending priorities have been dampened by harsh economic realities.

“It takes dollars to change priorities,” said Chief Administrative Officer Richard B. Dixon.

Supervisors face:

* Sixty-six million dollars in proposed cuts. They include closing six fire stations, shutting the County Museum of Art a second day each week, eliminating maintenance of 300 miles of hiking and equestrian trails, reducing lifeguard staffing, and cutting inspectors who check gas station pumps and supermarket scales.

Only health and mental health programs are spared from the ax, but no significant increase in funding is proposed to meet the growing number of AIDS and tuberculosis cases.

* More than $1 billion in requests for funding. These range from $7.6 million requested by Sheriff Sherman Block to open a clinic to treat mentally ill prisoners, to $30 million for such health programs as bringing hospitals up to fire code and accreditation standards.

Included are hundreds of thousands of dollars sought by the supervisors themselves for pet projects.

* No money is provided for pay raises for most of the 85,000 county employees whose contracts expire Sept. 30. “We don’t accept the proposed budget as the final word,” said Gilbert Cedillo, general manager of Service Employees International Union, Local 660, the county’s biggest labor union.

Supervisors delayed action on a new spending plan until the state budget stalemate was resolved. The state shifted responsibility for $733 million in health and welfare programs to the county, while providing enough money to cover the increased costs.

The proposed $66 million in cuts, which were proposed before passage of the state budget, are the product of increased costs and the growing demand for county services, both of which have outstripped the county’s tax revenues.

Welfare rolls, for example, are at record levels. In Los Angeles County, 1.2 million residents--nearly one in eight--is on welfare.

Sometimes the scope of the county’s responsibility surprises supervisors. When probation chief Barry Nidorf pointed out at budget hearings that his department is responsible for 120,000 probationers, Supervisor Kenneth Hahn gasped, “That’s more than the Coliseum seats!”

The item that drew the biggest public response, according to Dixon, was a proposed $588,000 cut for maintenance of hiking and equestrian trails. “I’ve gotten more letters on equestrian trails than there are horses in the county,” Dixon said.

“We’ll try to reflect in this year’s budget some new priorities in terms of preventive care that keep people out of hospitals and jails and save the county money,” said liberal Supervisor Ed Edelman. Edelman said he will propose restoring $1.9 million in funding for dozens of community groups that conduct programs designed to prevent juvenile delinquency.

But Edelman and Hahn said they do not expect the new liberal majority to make sweeping changes in the budget.

“The realities dictate that we don’t have a lot of money to move around,” Edelman said.

Dixon contended that the county’s spending priorities tend to be driven more by economics than politics. “A lot of what the conservative bloc got blamed or credit for was more of budget necessity than ideological,” he said.

Supervisor Gloria Molina, whose election earlier this year tipped the balance of power to the liberals, declined to comment on the budget in advance of deliberations.

Supervisors open deliberations with only $9.6 million in uncommitted funds. Once that is spent, Dixon said, supervisors have two choices to prevent cuts or fund new programs: approve substitute cuts or raise taxes.

Supervisors have limited ability to shift money because of legal requirements that they spend most of their money for such things as running the courts, hospitals and jails.

“You have very little ability to set your own priorities,” Dixon said during budget hearings after Molina complained about the lack of funding for critical needs.

Also, much of the money the county receives from the state and federal government is earmarked for specific purposes.

Supervisors have the power to levy a few taxes, such as a business license tax, which only affect unincorporated territory. But Dixon said he will urge supervisors “to not use their last penny of taxing authority” because the county may face more budget problems later in the year.

“We are in very uncertain economic times,” Dixon said.