Plan to Cut Car Allowance Called Futile : Budget: Finance officials say that because of a hiring freeze on county government executives, the proposal for a 35% reduction would save little or no money this year.

With the county confined by a hiring freeze on executive-level positions, a recent proposal to sharply reduce the $715 monthly car allowance for future top county government officials would save little or no money this year, county finance officials say.

Supervisors Roger R. Stanton and Gaddi H. Vasquez proposed the 35% cut last week as part of a controversial budget-cutting plan to help reduce the county’s massive $93-million shortfall. But county Auditor-Controller Steven E. Lewis said this week that little, if any, money would be saved because there are no plans to hire new executives.

The county’s 82 top-level managers, who receive the allowance, cannot be required to give up any portion of the benefit because of existing employment contracts that guarantee it.

“It sounded good from the perception of the public, but the savings will be virtually nothing,” Lewis said. “All the posturing that has to be done for the public is too bad.”

Board Chairwoman Harriett M. Wieder, a critic of the entire Stanton-Vasquez budget proposal, said the recommendation offers little more than “a bunch of busy work” for the county staff because nothing can be done to alter the guaranteed contracts, and the county cannot afford to lift its hiring freeze.

“It sounds good,” Wieder said. “People say it’s a great idea, . . . but all it’s gotten us is the county staff spinning its wheels.”

But Stanton said he and Vasquez never intended the proposal to have an immediate impact and offered it knowing of the current restrictions.

“That’s only one small point of the plan,” Stanton said. “We are constantly going about the process of trying to take action now so that we will save money later.”

Orange County government executives receive more generous vehicle allowances--$715 a month--than their counterparts in Los Angeles and San Diego counties. A few top managers are allowed to choose between the cash allowance and the use of a leased county car.

The managers’ benefits are exceeded only by the car payments to the supervisors themselves, who are allowed $823 monthly.

The annual cost of the allowances to the county is $752,000.

Proposed as one of six budget-cutting recommendations that together could save $5 million to $6 million annually, the measure approved by the supervisors last week would reduce all future department executives’ car allowances to $465 per month.

County Counsel Terry C. Andrus said the supervisors cannot reduce the current allowances because the benefits were written into special employment contracts for the top executives.

In exchange for such benefits as the vehicle money, Andrus said the employees long ago signed the contracts and gave up their civil service protections.

“I think we would be looking at a significant issue of breach of contract,” Andrus said of any attempt to reduce the vehicle money. “There are certain benefits in government employment that the courts consider as property rights.”

Bert Scott, director of the county’s General Services Agency and one of the department heads, said the benefit has been provided for more than 20 years and has increased considerably during that time. It has remained frozen since 1990.

The allowance is provided to executives, from the county’s top administrator to high-ranking officials in the county Sheriff’s and Fire departments. The money is paid in addition to salaries that now range from $82,056 for supervisors to $134,000 for County Administrator Ernie Schneider.

Scott said mileage records are not kept for high-ranking officials who receive the cash allowance. The benefit is provided regardless of their travel needs. Few use their vehicles frequently for official duties, Scott said.

Although the allowance reduction does not apply to the supervisors, Stanton said that he and Vasquez have pledged to reduce their allowances to about $500 a month, $323 less than the monthly limit.

Since its formal introduction last week, the car allowance proposal has become a point of contention in the Stanton-Vasquez budget plan.

Chairwoman Wieder and Supervisor Thomas F. Riley have opposed the plan from the start. Wieder has branded it political “grandstanding” on the part of her colleagues.

Included among the plan’s recommendations were calls for a 10% cut of top executive positions; prohibition on executive salary increases for 1993-94; assignment of some county managers to additional duties to cover critical vacancies, and expanded early-retirement offerings for all executive-level employees.

Ticket to Ride

Orange County’s Board of Supervisors and major department heads receive larger monthly car allowances than their counterparts in neighboring counties.

Car Department Car County Supervisors allowance heads allowance Orange 5 $823 82 $715 San Diego *2 734 42 400 3 684 -- -- Los Angeles 5 620 30 525 Riverside 5 350 N/A N/A

*These supervisors cover a larger geographic area

Source: Individual counties; Researched by CAROLINE LEMKE and KEVIN JOHNSON / Los Angeles Times