Countywide : ‘Invisible’ Counties Will Seek an Image

Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez and other county officials on Wednesday joined their counterparts from around the state for a mutual “therapy” session in Sacramento on how best to cope with the bruising budget cuts to county services this year.

And, after a morning of commiserating, officials from 56 of California’s 58 counties concluded at the unprecedented one-day conference that there is only one way to make county governments less “invisible” to the taxpayers they serve and the lawmakers who determine their fate: improving public relations.

Vasquez and other county officials said Wednesday that they will gear up for an informational offensive aimed at telling the public that counties do the hard work of managing garbage dumps, caring for the indigent poor and providing mental health services.

They figure that this sometimes forgotten layer of government can shed its role as Sacramento’s budgetary whipping boy and win the respect it deserves only by drawing attention to the part it plays in everyday life.

“As dollars continue to dwindle and as revenue sources continue to diminish, it’s going to be survival of the fittest here and we’re going to be in a good position to take our message to Sacramento,” Vasquez said. He was accompanied to the capital by Ernie Schneider, county administrative officer, and Ronald S. Rubino, management and budget director.

The unprecedented “summit” of county officials was held by the California State Assn. of Counties, the lobbying arm of the regional governments. It came after a nasty, protracted state budget fight shifted more responsibility for health and welfare programs to the counties--and then cut their funding by a collective $1.8 billion, CSAC officials said.

In Orange County, the state’s fiscal woes translated into $35 million worth of cuts to court funding, assistance to the poor, libraries and fire districts, among other services. And looking ahead to another bruising year, county officials have already identified 18 areas they believe will be hard hit.

Steve Swendiman, CSAC executive director, said it is hoped that counties will band together as a cohesive lobbying force during the next round of budget talks, which will officially start when Gov. Pete Wilson unveils his proposed spending plan in January.

As part of that plan, Swendiman said, CSAC will urge Wilson not to discontinue a temporary, half-cent state sales tax that is due to be lifted in June. Lifting that tax would add another $1.7 billion to the state’s anticipated shortfall, he said.

Swendiman also said that counties will ask Wilson and the Legislature to save money by dismantling the state’s departments of Mental Health and County Health Services, which he said used to perform administrative duties now handled by individual counties.

In the long run, county officials will also be advocating a “restructuring” of local governmental services, in some cases swapping or melding duties with cities and school districts.

While no one at Wednesday’s conference doubted that further cuts were in the offing, they agreed that it was time to try to stave off the worst through efforts to make county government less “invisible.”

“We have an image problem,” said Swendiman. “We need to do a better job of educating, not only our own legislative delegations, but the people we serve.”

In Orange County, for instance, Vasquez said he wants the average citizen to do more than just put his garbage out on the curb once a week. He wants that average citizen to think about where the refuse winds up.

The answer: a landfill operated by the county. “For most people, they just know they put their trash out on the curb, somebody comes and picks it up, their hauler, and people don’t really pause to think about who it is that runs the system,” he said. “That is what I mean.”

Vasquez said he will urge fellow supervisors to resume semiannual meetings with the area’s legislative delegation, many of whom may not fully appreciate the importance of counties or the financial straits in which they find themselves.

Another suggestion made at Wednesday’s conference was that more boards of supervisors televise their meetings on cable TV. San Diego Supervisor Leon Williams, CSAC’s incoming president, said his board does just that, and it has made a “tremendous difference in the public’s consciousness of what counties do.”

Meetings of the Orange County Board of Supervisors are not televised.