Tax That Would Have Saved Jobs Rejected

County supervisors resoundingly refused to impose a utility users tax Thursday, even though that levy would have saved scores of government jobs and a number of services threatened by a $67.7-million budget shortfall.

The tax, a $7-per-month levy on residents of the unincorporated area, would have raised about $6 million a year. But the supervisors, all five of whom are anti-tax Republicans, refused even to consider the idea.

“As far as I was concerned, (the tax) was dead on arrival,” board Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez said during the last of three public hearings on the county’s 1991-92 budget, a $3.7-billion spending plan.

At a press briefing after the supervisors’ session, county budget director Ronald S. Rubino said that the extra $6 million would have allowed the government to retain about 80 of the 350 positions that are expected to be cut in order to close the budget gap. But because the county has a number of vacant positions, the exact number of workers who will lose their jobs is still not clear.

Supervisors voted unanimously to reject the proposed utility tax hike, which was submitted to them by the county administrative office. The administrative office did not make a recommendation on the tax, but merely offered it for the supervisors to consider.

In fact, Supervisor Roger R. Stanton told county staffers not to bring the idea back to the board unless specifically directed to by one of the supervisors. In another unanimous vote, the supervisors also rejected a proposal to levy a business license fee on firms in the unincorporated area, a measure that would have raised about $225,000 but would have cost almost that much to administer.

Along with the expected layoffs, a number of county services are slated to be slashed under the proposed budget.

The Sheriff’s Department has been targeted for cuts, including elimination of its helicopter patrol and 78 positions. The district attorney and public defender each would lose attorneys.

County volunteer programs and two of the government’s most popular and longstanding panels, the Commission on the Status of Women and the Human Relations Commission, also are slated for elimination.

Revenue from the utilities tax would have been enough to support both commissions and the helicopter patrol, as well as restoring the cuts to the district attorney and public defender.

As a result, some of the officials who administer those programs were incensed that the board rejected an opportunity to save their services.

“That’s very discouraging,” said Jean Forbath, chairwoman of the Human Relations Commission. “To just close off any consideration of something like that is very shortsighted. . . . We have to do both--cut services and raise more revenue.”

Bill Hodge, executive director of Orange County’s League of Cities, said the supervisors were trying to avoid making the same hard decisions that they have forced local municipalities to make. In January, the board voted to charge cities for inmates the local police departments bring to the county jails. Hodge said that has forced some cities to raise fees and taxes..

The supervisors, however, concentrated their efforts on the spending side of the ledger, and they endorsed the efforts of a special task force that is studying ways to contract out government services to the private sector.

In addition, a three-member majority of the board charged that task force with analyzing how Orange County might save money by adopting a county charter, a move that could increase the county’s options for contracting out services.

Although Thursday’s session marked the end of the board’s public hearings on the budget, it will still be a month before the supervisors approve a final spending plan. The board has given tentative approval to the recommended budget cuts, but the county administrative office and department heads will continue to negotiate about them between now and Aug. 27.