Supervisors to Rule on Emergency Funds Use : Budgets: State impasse has been forcing the county to borrow from reserves to support social services and courts.

Ventura County supervisors will decide next week whether to continue using emergency funds to help pay welfare checks, keep the county courts open and assist half a dozen other state-funded services until state legislators agree on a budget.

Since the beginning of the state budget impasse at the start of July, the county has been making up for the state’s portion of funding to social services and the court system by borrowing $5.7 million a month from reserves. But as the impasse drags on, county officials are wondering how much longer they should bail out the programs.

If the supervisors vote Tuesday to discontinue their stop-gap funding, 8,500 people could go without welfare checks, 500 children could be displaced from foster homes and the county court system could be forced to eliminate staff and cut back on court hours, officials say.

Supervisors Maggie Kildee, Vicky Howard and Maria E. VanderKolk said Friday they had not decided how they will vote, and Supervisors John K. Flynn and Susan K. Lacey could not be reached for comment.

“You want to say to the state, ‘If you don’t care about funding these programs, then that’s your problem,’ ” Kildee said.

“But if they close down the foster homes, where do you put the kids? We are the ones they are depending on. . . . We are the ones who see their faces.”

The county has enough money set aside to continue funding the state services until at least November, Norman R. Hawkes, county auditor-controller, said.

But, he added, “I just feel like I can no longer continue the decision of carrying (the state) without the Board of Supervisors’ direction. It has never gone this long.”

Hawkes said he fears that the county will not receive adequate reimbursement from the state, since some of the programs may be cut when the state completes the budget.

Complicating matters, Gov. Pete Wilson and leading legislators are grappling over how much funding to cut from county governments.

On Friday, the Legislature’s budget-writing conference committee passed a spending plan--drafted by Sen. Frank Hill of Whittier--that calls for cutting property tax revenue to counties by $740 million.

Under Hill’s plan, Ventura County could lose at least $8 million in funding on top of the $12 million it already stands to lose. The county gets about 40% of its general fund budget, or about $174 million, from the state. Both houses are expected to vote on the plan Sunday night.

County officials said the decrease would be devastating, causing widespread cuts or elimination of county programs and services.

Howard said Friday that she will have a hard time providing stop-gap money to state programs when legislators are considering cutting funds to the county.

“I’m frustrated,” she said. “The state talks about cutting our budget. We might just have to give them the same cut.”

Court and social service administrators, however, said they hoped the supervisors would provide the interim funding.

“I don’t want to be an alarmist,” said Barbara Fitzgerald, chief deputy director of the Public Social Services Agency. “I am confident the board will recognize the hardship this would create. There are real people who will be hurting. I don’t think that is the intent of the board.”

Sheila Gonzalez, executive officer of the superior and municipal courts, added, “I think the board will find it prudent to continue floating this until the state legislators come to their senses. I think the board is much more logical.”