Supervisors Vote to Defy Wilson : Budget: They back a policy of ignoring any state order to shift property tax revenue to schools. O.C. joins 45 other counties opposed to the planned raid.

Orange County’s threat to defy Gov. Pete Wilson became reality Tuesday when the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to support a policy of ignoring any state order to take as much as $2.1 billion in property tax revenue away from California’s 58 county governments.

“During frustrating times like this, our county must take this type of action,” Supervisor Thomas F. Riley said before initiating the board action, which adds Orange County to a list of at least 45 California counties already protesting the state’s planned raid on local tax revenue.

The 4-0 vote, with Chairman Harriett M. Wieder absent, was more than symbolic and represented “a very important statement by the board,” Supervisor William G. Steiner said. If necessary, Steiner said, his colleagues must be willing to support the policy with a possible lawsuit against the state.

“We are sending a message to the state . . . that we need to keep property tax revenues to fund local services,” Steiner said. “The hostility between county supervisors and the governor’s office is very real and it is mutual.”

Wieder, who initiated the resolution, was in Sacramento on Tuesday lobbying Orange County legislators on the state budget. In an interview, she said she did not see much movement in the state’s position.

“If nothing happens by this Friday, this (state budget) process is likely to go on all summer,” she said.

Dan Schnur, the governor’s press secretary, said the county’s action, if successful, would only bring a backlash from parents whose children would not be getting needed resources in schools.

“What they’ll have on their hands is a huge number of unhappy parents and children, and they’ll have a right to be unhappy,” Schnur said. “The people of Orange County have been victims of a distorted, one-sided campaign that does not reflect the true facts of the property tax shift.”

The new board policy would authorize county officials to refuse a possible state order to turn over as much as $200 million in local tax revenue. That figure represents the largest estimate of the planned revenue shift, which state officials want to devote to public schools.

County officials said a more likely scenario would mean the loss to Orange County of about $60 million.

Estimates have varied widely because of the state’s uncertain budget deliberations. The Legislature is trying to fund a projected budget shortfall of $9 billion for the 1993-94 fiscal year.

To accommodate the state’s financial crisis and other budget problems of their own, county supervisors have been considering a plan for $80 million in cuts to local services that would include the closure of two local fire stations, the possible shutdown of one branch jail and a 44% reduction in operating hours at the county’s 27 branch libraries.

Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, who has scheduled meetings today with the governor’s finance officers, said the position taken by counties is “probably the most united front Sacramento has ever seen” involving local governments.

“The proposed shift would be absolutely devastating,” Vasquez said. “We’re hoping that a consensus on this issue will result in a better strategy for everybody.”

Although Vasquez said it would be premature to discuss a possible lawsuit against the state, he described it as an option that must be kept in local government’s “back pocket.”

“We are not going to take this sitting down,” Vasquez said. “We’re on the front lines here. We have the responsibility to protect our interests. These are real implications we are facing here.”