Supervisors to Consider Restoring Budget Cuts : Finances: Antonovich spearheads drive. He hopes to pay for Sheriff’s Department operations largely with funds diverted from retirement account for employees.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider a plan today to restore $51.9 million to the county budget to prevent the closure of several public-safety facilities, including a jail in the Antelope Valley, a fire station in the Santa Monica Mountains and the district attorney’s office in Newhall.

The plan, submitted by Supervisor Mike Antonovich, would dip into county reserves, refinance county debt and “borrow” most of the money--about $37.7 million--by deferring contributions to a retirement savings account for county employees.

Most of the funds raised under Antonovich’s plan--$41.9 million--would go to the Sheriff’s Department to keep open stations and substations slated to be closed. About $6 million would go to the district attorney’s office, $3 million to the Fire Department, $1.9 million to the treasurer/tax collector and $500,000 to the county coroner’s office.

“The first priority of government is to protect the safety of its citizens against crime, the ravages of fire, earthquakes and other emergencies,” Antonovich said in a statement. “This board will fail its sworn responsibility if we gut our ability to respond to the critical safety needs of our residents.”

Many of the cuts Antonovich wants to forestall would affect his district, which includes the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys and part of the northern San Fernando Valley.

Sheriff Sherman Block was not available for comment, but a department spokesman, Sgt. Robert Stoneman, said Monday night that Block “would be more than willing to look at anything that will restore any or all of the money they hope to cut.”

Antonovich wants to revise a proposed county budget that would cut $47.9 million from the Sheriff’s Department in addition to $66.5 million Block cut in July. In a recent letter to the board, Block said the additional cuts would “devastate our department and clearly impact community safety countywide.”

If the $47.9 million is cut from the Sheriff’s Department, the Malibu station would be closed, the Lomita station downgraded to satellite status and public access eliminated at the Pico Rivera, Altadena, Firestone, Marina del Rey and San Dimas stations, Block said. Citizens would then be rerouted to less convenient regional offices to file crime reports. Other cost-cutting measures would include closing the Mira Loma Jail in Lancaster, patrolling Val Verde less frequently and reducing staff at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho in Castaic.

Antonovich wants to prevent all of these reductions to the Sheriff’s Department. His proposal would also save a fire station in the Santa Monica Mountains at Monte Nido (see accompanying story), district attorney’s offices at courts in Newhall and Glendale and coroner’s substations at Olive View and High Desert hospitals.

“If those coroner’s offices close, it will take up to eight hours to remove bodies from the Antelope Valley,” said Antonovich aide Lori Howard.

Antonovich’s proposal was met with skepticism by two of the other four board members.

“Before we put it all in the Sheriff’s Department, we need to consider the needs of other departments that are also severely affected,” said Supervisor Ed Edelman, citing health and mental health services as examples. “I would favor a broader approach, a more balanced approach here. It’s got to be expanded to take into account other needs.”

Robert Alaniz, an aide to Supervisor Gloria Molina, questioned whether the county could afford to borrow money from employee retirement accounts.