County Plan Would Slash 4,200 Jobs : Finances: Drastic reductions in services are called for as officials propose $350 million in program cuts.

Reflecting recession-driven cutbacks in state funding, Los Angeles County officials Thursday proposed dramatic reductions in public services ranging from the welfare department to art museums, including the closure of 13 district attorney offices, six sheriff’s facilities and a branch jail.

If adopted by the Board of Supervisors, Chief Administrative Officer Richard B. Dixon’s proposed cutbacks would eliminate 4,200 county jobs, more than 5% of the total work force. Also hit hard would be the health department and the Department of Parks and Recreation.

Many of the positions would be cut through attrition and an early retirement program, although officials said Thursday that at least 1,200 employees could be laid off. In all, county officials proposed $350 million in program cuts Thursday. More than 500 sheriff’s deputies could lose their jobs and the welfare department work force would be cut by about 12%.

The county faces an $833-million budget shortfall, the result of a recently adopted state budget that drastically cut payments to local governments.

“These are very painful decisions,” said Mary Jung, Dixon’s top assistant.

The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to debate the proposed cuts at its meeting Tuesday. It was unclear Thursday how far the supervisors would go in adopting the politically explosive recommendations.

“We’re not going to preclude any lawful option we can exercise in trying to keep these services going,” said Supervisor Ed Edelman. “I plan to look very carefully at what we can do to help reduce the impact.”

Mas Fukai, chief deputy to Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, said Hahn would fight the closure of health centers and fire stations.

Jung said the cuts were inevitable because the state has left local government without substantial revenue-raising power. She added that the county hoped to initiate its early retirement program immediately, and that layoffs could begin in January.

Under Dixon’s proposal, the county’s vast criminal justice system would be hit especially hard. Sheriff’s Department officials said they could lose 4,300 jail beds, about 16.3% of the space available in the county jail system. The Mira Loma Jail in Lancaster would close. Sheriff Sherman Block said he would step up the early release program for county inmates.

Sheriff’s officials also proposed closing their Malibu station and five substations in Altadena, Lynwood, Lennox, Pico Rivera and San Dimas.

The district attorney’s office would lose 184 positions from its area offices, which are located in Municipal Courts throughout the county.

County officials also proposed a 51% reduction in county recreation programs and the complete elimination of free park recreation programs throughout the county. In the health department, 1,600 jobs would be phased out, forcing reductions in service at a variety of clinics and hospitals.

“If someone wants to play at our gym, we would request payment,” said Tony Yakimowich, budget chief for the Parks and Recreation Department. “There’s no doubt in my mind that the inner-city youth, the families that can least afford to pay for these programs will be affected the most.”

Welfare officials said the proposed budget includes a $60-million cut in their department, a move that department officials said would devastate the agency at a time when welfare caseloads are skyrocketing and one in six Los Angeles County residents is receiving government assistance.

Under the proposal submitted to the Board of Supervisors, the Department of Public Social Services would lose many of the eligibility workers who serve 1.5 million county residents receiving welfare payments.

“They’re talking about abandoning the social safety net,” said Ramon Rubalcava of the Service Employees International Union, Local 660, which represents most county workers. “A spark is going to go off in this city. It’s just crazy.”

Welfare officials say the budget crisis has placed them in a Catch-22 situation: Southern California’s recession has pushed welfare caseloads to record levels while forcing a reduction in funding for social workers. More than 1,000 of the department’s 8,500 employees would be laid off under the county proposal.

Welfare officials recommended the cuts after Dixon told the department that it would have to reduce county costs by 12.7%. Under the revised 1992-93 budget recommendations, welfare officials eliminated $10 million in county funds from their budget, a move that will cost them an additional $50 million in federal and state matching funds.

The department would cut about 350 of its 4,400 eligibility workers who process applications for welfare, general relief and other programs. Another 750 jobs in “support services,” including clerical and administrative posts, would be eliminated.

“Welfare caseloads are expected to increase by 23% this year,” said Ann Jankowski, chief of the department’s Budget and Management Services Division. “It’s such a bad time in the state, welfare is going to go up. There’s no way around it.”

Twenty of 147 positions would be eliminated in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Some museum outreach programs would be cut and curatorial staffing reduced, officials said. Similar cuts would take place at the Museum of Natural History.

County fire officials proposed the elimination of most wilderness fire patrols and getting rid of the fireboat at Marina del Rey.

The proposed cuts come after weeks of negotiations between county and union officials. Dixon orignally proposed that all county employees work two days each month without pay, a plan that was rejected by union representatives.

Instead, county unions agreed this week to the early retirement program. Dixon, in turn, agreed to defer pay raises for top administrators and non-union employees.

Several key programs that had been slated for elimination were saved in Dixon’s proposed budget. A plan to close 16 of the county’s 41 health centers was abandoned, although clinic operating hours could be cut back, said Irving Cohen, the health department’s finance director. Officials also expect to “take a hard look” at whether clinics should go from a five-day to a four-day week, Cohen said.

A plan to close most Probation Department youth camps also has been shelved. Walt Kelly, the department’s chief of staff, said the department had decided to close only one of 19 camps for juvenile offenders.

The other 18 camps will be safe until May because of an agreement with the union to defer payment of overtime until a future date and grant some flexibility in work reassignments within the department.

However, the reprieve might only be temporary. If no additional state or private funding is found by the spring, the camps would close in June.

Times staff writer Deborah Schoch contributed to this story.