County Woes Blamed on State, U.S. : Government: ‘State of the County’ address includes warning that more programs face cuts as the county’s financial problems worsen.

Singing a familiar refrain of San Diego County government, Supervisor George Bailey Tuesday blamed state and federal mandates, court decisions and special interest groups for the county’s dire financial problems, and warned of increasingly severe program cuts in the coming year.

Using the annual State of the County address to highlight the county’s fiscal plight, Bailey warned that “whole programs may be recommended for elimination. We cannot continue to weaken all programs without running the risk that they will gradually sink into ineffectiveness. It is better that we selectively strengthen and ensure survival of those we feel are the most critical.”

Bailey spoke on the same day that the board began to consider sharp cuts in services at the county’s psychiatric hospital and finalized a plan to eliminate nearly 2,000 able-bodied people from welfare rolls as part of its continuing effort to balance the current fiscal year budget.

Bailey, the board’s chairman for 1992, warned that the county would continue to defy state orders to operate health and social service programs if the state fails to provide the funding for them.

In an interview after the speech, he contended that, despite progress in the Legislature, the county is receiving about $90 million less than its fair share of tax revenues this fiscal year.

Despite victories in lawsuits seeking more property tax money, mental health funds and reimbursement for a state-mandated medical program, appeals have slowed the county’s bid to secure more funding, Bailey said.

The “open” border with Mexico contributes to violence against undocumented immigrants, drug smuggling, and the competition between legal and illegal residents for scarce health and social service funds, Bailey said.

In perhaps the lone bright spot of his 28-minute address, Bailey noted that the board has added 500 inmates to the Vista jail, 792 in Santee and 2,000 beds for inmates in the first phase of the East Mesa Detention Facility--even with the loss of $1.6 billion in tax revenue from the Proposition A sales tax, which was overturned by the state Supreme Court last month.

However, 1,500 of the East Mesa beds remain empty because the county has no money to staff and operate the jail.