Supervisors OK $12-Billion Budget, Reject Unpaid 2-Day Leave : Finances: Molina unsuccessfully urges board, staff to absorb cutback to make more health funds available.

Los Angeles County supervisors Tuesday approved a $12-billion budget after newcomer Gloria Molina failed to get her board colleagues and their staffs to take an unpaid two-day leave to make more money available for health programs.

Molina, whose scrappy style enlivened county budget deliberations this year, joined the rest of the supervisors in voting for the spending plan, the biggest in county history.

The budget reflects the thinking of the board’s new liberal majority of Supervisors Ed Edelman, Kenneth Hahn and Molina.

For example, the liberal majority provided $2.5 million to hire employees to help reduce waits at welfare offices and at an AIDS clinic at County-USC Medical Center. The board made no cuts in health and mental health programs.

Under a decade of conservative control, the supervisors had cut funding for health and welfare to beef up law enforcement. The new budget includes a slight cut in funding for the Sheriff’s Department.

But unity among the board’s liberals faltered as Molina found herself alone in advocating that supervisors and other top bureaucrats take an unpaid two-day work furlough that she said would provide an additional $2.6 million for health programs, including the troubled trauma network.

Conservative Supervisor Deane Dana called Molina’s proposal “a way to get attention.”

During deliberations, Molina castigated her colleagues for failing to delve more deeply into the budget.

She said, “I’ve had a heck of a time trying to understand the budget,” which the board approved after only two days of public debate.

“She’s been here three or four months,” retorted Dana. “A newcomer should try to learn from the experts.”

Molina persuaded the board to direct Chief Administrative Officer Richard B. Dixon to develop a revised budget format that would provide greater detail on how funds are spent.

She complained that supervisors spent two days haggling over $10 million, rather than scrutinizing the entire $12-billion spending plan. Dixon has contended that the supervisors have very little control over how money is spent because the county is legally required to fund the courts, hospitals, jails, welfare programs and other government mandated services--which compose 89% of the budget.

On Monday, the supervisors voted to set aside $5 million to be divided equally among the five supervisors for district projects. Edelman voted against the action and Molina abstained.

At Edelman’s urging on Tuesday, the board also allocated more funds for prenatal care, drug treatment programs and projects to stem juvenile delinquency.

“This year,” Edelman said, “we put substantial amounts of money into prevention, which will save us more expenses down the line.”

The supervisors also provided funds to prevent closing the County Museum of Art a second day each week.

To balance the budget, however, the supervisors approved about $60 million in cuts, according to Chief Administrative Officer Dixon. Among other things, they reduced the number of inspectors who check gas station pumps and supermarket scales. In addition, the cuts will force the layoff of about 10 Planning Department employees.

The budget does not allow for cost-of-living raises for most of the county’s 85,000 workers, whose contracts expire Sept. 30. Employee unions have suggested that they will continue to press for pay hikes.

The budget, moreover, provides nearly $6 million less than the amount recommended by both public and private health officials to respond to the increasing number of AIDS and tuberculosis cases in the county.

By day’s end, a number of budget issues remained unresolved, including whether to levy a proposed $13.99-a-year “benefit assessment” on single-family homes in 48 cities and unincorporated territory to avert proposed cuts in the Fire Department, including the closing of five stations.