County Tightens Welfare Rules, Ups License Fees : Supervisors: A $1 hike in motor vehicle fees will be used to stem car thefts, carjackings. Board names a new chairman.

With a new chairman at its helm, the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday toughened regulations governing local welfare grants and approved a $1 hike in motor vehicle registration fees in an effort to stem a rising tide of car thefts.

The moves came as Supervisor Roger R. Stanton passed the chairman’s gavel to Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, who was first elected to the county’s top legislative body in 1978. The board traditionally rotates its chairmanship each year among the five members.

Stanton, who had presided over the board for the past year, made reference in his outgoing speech to an article in The Times on Friday on tensions over his apparent attempt to hold onto the chairmanship for an additional year, but he sought Tuesday to downplay any ill feelings among the supervisors.

“Sometimes,” he said, “we may displease each other.” But he went on to compliment Wieder and the other three supervisors for their work the past year to help “change 1992 from a lemon of a year to a proud orange.”

And of Wieder, the only woman on the board, he said: “I think we have the best woman we could possibly have, or the best man--however you want to phrase it--the best person for the job in 1993.”

Wieder, who has asked to be referred to as chairman of the Board of Supervisors, will give her opening address on the state of the county Jan. 26 at the Hall of Administration.

In the meantime, the board unanimously agreed to adopt new regulations for its General Relief program for the local poor. The program, funded entirely by the county, has an annual budget of $15 million and provides monthly benefits, beginning at $307, to about 4,800 people in Orange County.

Under the new regulations, General Relief recipients will have to show that they have been living in the county for 15 days before being approved for the program and they will receive less money if they share housing with someone unrelated or not a legal guardian. A person with just one roommate, for instance, would see a 10% cut in benefits.

Counties were allowed to make both these changes under legislation signed last year by Gov. Wilson, said Angelo Doti, director of financial assistance for the county’s Social Services Agency. “This simply puts us in line with other counties,” Doti said, adding that it is uncertain how much money either change may save the county.

Nancy Rimsha, staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Orange County, said she is concerned that the new regulations will make it needlessly more difficult for the poor to get benefits to which they are entitled. “This just makes it harder,” she said.

Rimsha added that she will look at the legality of both the changes.

In other business, the board approved a $1 increase in motor vehicle registration fees beginning in March to pay for a special task force that will investigate and prosecute car thefts and carjackings. The increase is expected to raise more than $2 million a year to fund the effort.

Addressing the board, Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi said that car thefts in Orange County rose 130% in the 1980s--from 9,000 to 22,000--and now account nationwide for nearly half of all property crimes.

Orange County joins 16 other counties in the state that have adopted the $1 fee hike since the state Legislature authorized the move two years ago.

Capizzi said that a dollar is “a very, very small price to pay” for the potential drop in car thefts and insurance rates in the county, but one Anaheim resident argued that raising fees isn’t the solution.

“If (car theft) is a very serious problem, then you should shift funds from existing resources and deal with it,” said Phillip Knypstra, who identified himself as a former Anaheim police officer. “I don’t think any of you want to be known as ‘it’s-only-a-buck’ politicians.”