County’s Fiscal Bind Worsening : Finances: A huge slowdown in property tax income and a loss of about $500,000 in jail booking fees are expected, officials say in report.

Orange County government finance officers are painting an even more gloomy economic forecast, predicting a dramatic slowdown in property tax income and the loss of about $500,000 in jail booking fees.

Those shrinking sources of revenue are greatly contributing to county government’s massive $93-million budget shortfall, according to a midyear financial report.

Included in the 28-page summary of fiscal woes is a finding that the Pentagon’s recent decision to close 10 military bases in California, including El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, might further delay economic recovery in Orange County.

“Orange County’s recovery is weaker and slower than at the national level,” the report says, adding that no expansion in the local economy is expected until 1994 or 1995. Slow recovery “becomes more apparent once viewing the data on job growth, unemployment, construction and taxable sales.”

Local performance in each of those categories during recent years and in the initial months of 1993 has been disappointing at best, the report found.

At 6.5%, the local unemployment rate is higher than it has been since the mid-1980s. While county sales tax revenue is expected to show a slight improvement this year, any increase is expected to be totally offset by inflation.

And largely because of an excess supply of commercial office space, building permits in unincorporated areas of the county have also dropped sharply in recent years.

But what particularly worries government officials is the erosion of once-thriving revenue streams, particularly property tax income and jail booking fees.

Growth in property tax revenue, although estimated at $12 million for 1993-94, represents the lowest level of growth since 1978, the report states. Property tax income is the largest single source of county revenue, estimated at 51% of the $501.7-million budget for the county general fund.

“That’s one of the lowest growth rates in ages,” said Robert L. Richardson, an aide to County Supervisor Roger R. Stanton. “It’s a major concern when the bulk of the budget depends on those revenues.”

Richardson said the slow-growth problem is compounded by the state’s plan to take a $19-million share from local property tax revenue to help fund state schools.

The county’s contribution to school funding is part of a $2.6-billion shift of property tax money and redevelopment funds from local governments statewide to fund public education.

“That $19 million is a significant issue,” Richardson said. “When a chunk like that is taken away, that’s a big hit. It just seems like it’s one thing after another.”

Another new revenue loss to the county is expected this summer when the city of Santa Ana opens its 96-bed, temporary jail just off Santa Ana Boulevard.

Not only is there too little room to house prisoners at Orange County Jail, but city officials in Santa Ana have complained that the costs of housing prisoners with the county has grown too expensive. It costs about $150 per day for cities to place a prisoner in the County Jail.

Richardson, who is also a Santa Ana councilman, said the county loss is estimated at $500,000. That amount might increase in the future because Santa Ana has plans to build a larger permanent facility.

He said it was hoped that the county could pare the current budget shortfall by at least $7 million with a controversial plan recently endorsed by the Board of Supervisors.