Sheriff to Take Steps to Cut 7,500 Jail Beds : Budget: Sherman Block says he needs $5 million a month to keep facilities, including some in Castaic and the Antelope Valley, open.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block and Supervisor Gloria Molina engaged in a verbal tug of war over control of the Sheriff’s Department budget Tuesday as Block announced that he will begin taking steps to close three County Jail facilities.

After the Board of Supervisors failed to immediately provide him with $5 million to keep the facilities open, Block said he will begin preparations to eliminate 7,500 jail beds--enough to accommodate more than one-third of the county’s jail population--by July 1.

“As I leave here today, my proposals have not been altered,” Block said after the board meeting. “Somebody is going to have to tell me they found the money.”

Supervisors voted unanimously to review the sheriff’s budget and ordered Chief Administrative Officer Harry Hufford to look for additional sources of funding. But the supervisors stopped short of providing Block with the assurances he demanded.

Molina charged that Block was “playing chicken” and attempting to force the board’s hand. She argued for cuts in the department’s administrative budget.

“You play chicken better than anybody I know,” she told Block. “You operate that way. You say, ‘Give me the money now or I’m going to do what I’m going to do.’ ”

Block, his face reddening, snapped back: “I am an elected official and I am willing to face the electorate in 1994 based on my actions. . . . I provide public safety and the board has an obligation to fund it.”

Block later said: “It’s not a game of chicken. This is reality.”

Underlying the public feud is the fact that Block controls all aspects of the Sheriff’s Department except its budget, which is determined by the supervisors.

Under Block’s plan, the jails could be closed by July 1. But the sheriff said a significant number of inmates could be released before June 1 if the board does not come up with more money soon.

However, Molina succeeded in calling Block’s bluff--at least temporarily. He conceded privately later that it will be at least two weeks before he begins reducing the jail population, by which time the board may come up with the money. “You never reach a point of no return,” Block said. “You can always adjust the process.”

Jails facing closure are parts of the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho in Castaic, the Mira Loma facility in the Antelope Valley and the Biscailuz Center in East Los Angeles. He has already closed the Hall of Justice Jail downtown.

The county is facing a projected $1.45-billion budget deficit in the 1993-94 fiscal year, which begins July 1. Block and other county department chiefs have been asked to prepare budget proposals with service cuts of 8% and 25%.

Block has said an 8% budget reduction would force him to lay off 340 deputies. He has said that if he is forced to implement a 25% reduction, he would close nine of 20 patrol stations and eliminate a variety of investigative and undercover operations. Up to 1,700 deputies could be laid off.

Even if he closed just three jail facilities, Block said, the system could no longer accept inmates charged with misdemeanors, including such crimes as inciting to riot and carrying a concealed weapon.

Block told the board that he will need $5 million to keep the three jails open until Aug. 1, and an additional $5 million for each month thereafter. If no funds are forthcoming, Block said, he will need two months to begin sending out layoff notices and take other steps to close the jails by July.

Board members said they were sympathetic with Block’s plight.

“Nobody wants to close jails,” board Chairman Ed Edelman said.

The board simultaneously adopted a motion by Molina to look for savings in nonessential areas in the Sheriff’s Department budget and a motion by Supervisor Mike Antonovich requesting that the sheriff not begin closing the jails.

“It’s a signal we’re sending that we don’t want jails to close,” Edelman said. “As to where the money will come from, that’s another story.”