State Investigators’ Layoffs Delayed : Beverage control: Pink slips for 10 of 13 alcohol-agency employees who monitor O.C. bars and liquor stores have been put off till January.

Layoffs of three-fourths of the state investigators who monitor bars and liquor stores have been halted until at least January because of an administrative delay, giving a coalition of business and union leaders time to come up with a bailout plan.

The California Assn. of State Investigators and an ad hoc business group said they may propose an increase in annual liquor license fees to restore nearly $5 million cut from the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Department’s $23-million budget this year.

That cut would result in layoffs of 151 investigators, or three-quarters of the investigators statewide, including 10 of 13 in Orange County, ABC officials said.

One widely discussed proposal would increase the yearly license fee by 28%, business and ABC officials said. Annual renewal fees for the state’s more than 70,000 liquor licenses range from about $28 to $1,000, said Manuel Espinoza, ABC deputy director.

“It is difficult to raise the (renewal) fee,” said Tom Aldrich, an Anheuser-Busch Co. vice president in Sacramento and a member of the business coalition. “Any additional cost is difficult to handle. But at the same time, the problem with the ABC is significant as well.”

Official layoff notices, expected by ABC officials in the middle of November, were delayed as the state Personnel Board completed its mandatory review of the ethnic and gender balance that would result after layoffs, authorities said. Formal layoff notices still could be mailed in January, said Bob Pipkin, a spokesman for the state Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, which oversees the ABC.

Dean Rewerts, a board member with the state investigators union, said “we’re very hopeful” that the union and business coalition will have a proposal in the form of a legislative bill prepared for submission to the state Legislature when it reconvenes Jan. 6.

But some coalition members characterize the discussions as fragile. Jo-Linda Thompson, general counsel for the California Restaurant Assn., said there is a “50-50 chance” that the business group will agree on a proposal.

Meanwhile, Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) is working separately to prepare a bill that would fully restore the agency’s funding.

Gov. Pete Wilson has not retreated from the layoff plan, said spokesman Franz Wisner.

“We still plan to go ahead on layoffs,” Wisner said. “It’s simply a matter of finances. . . . The state does not have the money.”