Revised County Budget Slashes Aid to Poor : Finances: Hufford says funds must be shifted to law enforcement to comply with state terms on use of sales tax revenues.

In an 11th-hour reassessment before crucial budget hearings begin Monday, Los Angeles County officials on Friday said they plan to shift hundreds of millions of dollars to the Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office by making much deeper cuts in benefits and services for the poor.

“There’s no new money here,” said county Chief Administrative Officer Harry Hufford. “It’s just a shell game,” with tax funds being shifted from one department to another, he said.

The revised budget became necessary after adoption of the state budget two weeks ago. Under terms of the controversial state package, $134 million in sales tax revenue for the county is to be earmarked for public safety programs and cannot be spread around based on need.

In the revised budget plan sent to the Board of Supervisors late Friday, Hufford recommended slashing general-relief benefits by 27%, to the state-mandated minimum of $212 a month, and making an additional $103 million in cuts to the Welfare Department, including 2,700 layoffs.

A further shifting of funds would allow the county to keep its major hospitals open, but virtually all county-operated clinics and comprehensive health centers would have to be closed.

“It’s a Hobson’s choice, reducing general relief benefits to provide health care for the poor,” Hufford said.

And the cuts bring some unexpected costs, Hufford noted. Anticipating violence in welfare offices when recipients are forced to wait in long lines, Hufford is beefing up the budget for security guards by 25%.

Since the county budget was tentatively approved two weeks ago, officials also have won $200 million in additional federal funds that will help to keep hospitals open. Earlier, officials feared one major hospital would have to be shuttered.

Smaller medical centers will help pay the price. Four of six comprehensive health-care centers and 20 to 29 of 41 clinics would be closed. In all, the closures would eliminate nearly 1,600 staff positions and more than 1.6 million patient visits annually.

Hubert H. Humphrey, H.C. Hudson, Long Beach and Mid-Valley medical centers are slated for closure under the revised budget.

Also, cuts to Children’s Services deepened, to $19.1 million from $6.9 million; cuts to libraries worsened, to $35.7 from $23.5 million, and cuts to the Parks and Recreation Department deepened, to $13 million from $8.9 million.

Hufford noted that the cuts are particularly difficult because the demand for social services is growing.

The Children’s Services Department, which will lose 161 child-welfare case workers and close 15 offices, is handling a record number of child-abuse and neglect cases--more than 13,000 a month.

The big winners in the revised budget plan are law-enforcement agencies.

The district attorney’s office will get an additional $18.5 million, allowing it to retain 240 prosecutors.

The Sheriff’s Department will have $77.6 million and 1,059 positions restored. That should allow the department to keep open four custody facilities and eight patrol stations.

In addition, the Probation Department received an additional $62.1 million in state and federal funding in recent weeks.

Conditions for fire and flood control districts also improved since the tentative budget was adopted. Both types of districts were exempted from a state measure to shift away property taxes from local agencies. That will result in the restoration of $122 million in funds for fire districts and $35.4 million for flood control districts.

And because of the additional federal funding for health services, Hufford said that the anticipated county layoffs should drop to 5,000 from the previously estimated 8,800.

In all, the budget has grown in the revised plan to $13.1 billion from $12.3 billion. That is still more than $600 million below last year’s budget.

But Hufford reminded the supervisors that the budget plan continues to carry large risks.

The spending plan is based on the assumption that rank-and-file workers will accept $215 million in wage concessions and that voters in November will approve extensions of a sales tax that will provide $400 million annually.

“This is incredibly risky,” Hufford said.

But he also noted that there are some potential new sources of revenue being pursued, including county support of a proposed new statewide tobacco tax that could provide $153 million annually.