Budget Ax Falls on Worthy Programs : But Crisis Shouldn’t Permanently Kill Proven Services

Orange County’s budget battle is over, leaving behind a number of dead or wounded county programs. Regrettably, gone is Operation Santa Claus, a volunteer holiday gift program, and the Commission on the Status of Women, which focused on child care and women’s abuse issues. The Human Relations Commission, which will absorb some of the women’s issues, had its budget slashed by a third after being threatened with elimination. Law enforcement, including a sheriff’s investigation unit, has been reduced. Many corners have been cut.

Board Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez, in casting his vote last week for the budget, said it would be “doing more with less.” But perhaps it would be more accurate to say it will mean doing less with less. The $3.7-billion spending plan adopted by the Board of Supervisors calls for 68 employee layoffs--the first in 13 years. These will occur despite the fact that the overall county work force will grow to accommodate state or federally mandated social and health-care programs. In all, 260 positions were cut, some of which had been frozen earlier when the magnitude of its fiscal emergency was first grasped.

In voting to adopt the budget, the board was right to warn county managers to start planning for next year’s budget now. No one knows whether the recession will lessen its grip on local government during the next year. Also, some of the devices used to close a projected $67.7-million shortfall will not be available again.

The brutal budgetary process and prospect of another, similar shortfall next year, made questionable the board’s last-minute decision to restore $51,000 to 4-H. While the young, articulate 4-H emissaries were charming, and 4-H is a worthy program, the program does not stack up against much greater needs in the county. Supervisor Roger R. Stanton, playing to the crowd gathered for the final budget vote, led the effort to find more money for 4-H from the county’s contingency fund. To her credit, Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder voiced her opposition, saying it was unfair to fully fund 4-H when so many other programs were being cut to the bone.

Still to come are hearings this fall on health-care services, including the international refugee assistance program, children’s clinical services (including well-baby clinics) and communicable disease clinic services. Once the hearings, required by the state, are completed, an additional $700,000 in cutbacks will have to be made.

County budget managers were reasonably successful in using a scalpel rather than an ax on targeted programs, including well-baby clinics. For example, the busiest clinics will be kept open while others are closed. But that means longer waiting lists for all. It also could mean added costs down the line because, as health professionals know, preventive health care is far less expensive than emergency services that might be required if medical problems are either undiscovered or unattended.

Now that a budget has been adopted, community groups that lobbied successfully for lesser cuts of favored programs have their work laid out for them. It would be folly for them not to realize that non-mandated programs are likely to be the first to go if there is another round of budget slashing. That means that sooner rather than later they must identify other funding.

By the same token, however, the Board of Supervisors must not use this year’s crisis to kill off programs permanently, should the budget picture brighten in the next year. Proven programs should be the first to be fully restored.