Slim Budget Forges New Fund Links for County : Finances: Departments strapped for cash turn to the private sector. Donations and fund-raisers help pay for a variety of public services.

Because of private donations, Ventura County officials can continue providing books this year to adults enrolled in literacy courses.

For the first time, the district attorney’s office can begin prosecuting people who file bogus workers’ compensation claims--a move made possible with funding from the agricultural industry and schools.

And, after a massive community fund-raising effort, the county is able to keep open a tiny library in the poorest area of Ventura for at least another year because of the generosity of library boosters.

Faced with diminishing revenues, public officials across Ventura County are forging unprecedented affiliations with the private sector to help pay for everything from the Sheriff’s Department canine unit to art lessons for foster children.

Without the infusion of cash from private donors, the county government would have been forced to cut some of its smaller services because of this year’s budget squeeze.

Officials say they plan to step up their fund-raising attempts to help carry the county through another round of budget cuts expected next year.

In addition, county supervisors say they hope to employ private business to take over some of the county’s basic duties. Such areas that could be “privatized,” officials said, are park maintenance and janitorial service.

“Government and business cannot operate in vacuums,” Supervisor Maggie Kildee said. “We need each other to make things happen. The partnership creates some solutions.”

County officials say they have received tens of thousands of dollars from private sources to help boost county services, but no one knows for sure exactly how much money is raised annually. County Auditor Thomas O. Mahon said the county has never compiled a list of its donors.

Jane Reimann, who organizes fund-raising efforts for county foster children’s programs, estimated that the county received about $25,000 in donations last year for the youngsters. The money was used to pay for summer camp, tutors, a holiday party with gifts, and dozens of other services.

At a time when the county is cutting its support to social services, the department depends on the donations.

“If it weren’t for the donations, the quality of services that these kids get would be greatly diminished,” Reimann said.

County library officials estimate that they received about $171,000 in donations last year. About $63,000 was raised through extensive community efforts to keep open the Avenue Library, which was set to close this year because of a funding shortfall.

The fund-raising effort featured a telethon broadcast on cable television in Ventura during the spring.

Library Agency Director Dixie D. Adeniran said officials plan to mimic the successful Avenue Library fund-raising program in future efforts.

“It has made a terrific difference,” Adeniran said, adding that the library system’s $8.5-million budget was cut by 20% this year.

In a separate fund-raising drive through the Friends of the Library, about $13,000 was raised to purchase books for the county’s adult literacy courses, said program coordinator Pat Flanigan.

Without the money, she said, the county would have been forced either to redistribute used workbooks and other materials or require students to pay for their own books.

“A lot of our students don’t have the funds for the materials,” Flanigan said. “If we had to charge students, it would change our whole purpose. We are here to help people who need a second chance. We entirely depend on donations.”

Last week, the Board of Supervisors authorized the district attorney’s office to hire a lawyer to resume full prosecution of fishing and hunting violations, after receiving a $20,000 pledge from the United Anglers of Southern California.

This is the second time in three months that Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury has received the supervisors’ permission to fund prosecutions with the help of private donations.

In May, the board agreed to allow a special unit of Bradbury’s office to prosecute bogus workers’ compensation claims by using $162,000 in contributions to pay for the efforts. Ventura County Schools Self-Funding Authority, a group representing most of the county’s public schools, and agricultural firms donated the bulk of the money.

Although county officials have praised Bradbury for seeking alternative funding sources for his endeavors, they say the county must avoid the appearance that its prosecutors are up for hire.

“We have to be very careful,” said Chief Administrative Officer Richard Wittenberg. “We don’t want people to say, ‘I’ll buy you to prosecute.’ ”

To solve that problem, Bradbury has set up a blind trust for donations used to fund the workers’ compensation fraud cases.

“We are not letting sources of funds have any undue influence,” said Don Coleman, special assistant district attorney. “There is a fine line. You don’t want to cross it.

“We would prefer not to take any funds, quite frankly. If it was a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to. But extraordinary times call for extraordinary things to get the job done.”

Mike Duffy, a lawyer for the United Anglers of Southern California, said his group approached Bradbury’s office to offer financial assistance after learning that the county’s prosecution of illegal hunting and fishing cases had plummeted.

For example, in 1990 more than 1,000 fish and game code violations were prosecuted. In 1992, that number had dropped to only 151 cases because of funding cuts.

“We have heard nothing but huge, huge complaints about the status of enforcement in Ventura County,” Duffy said. “It just didn’t make sense to us. We figured it was probably just because they didn’t have a lot of money.

“We approached the office to see if we could help.”

Duffy said the group, a nonprofit organization of about 25,000 fishing enthusiasts statewide, will hold at least two fund-raisers a year for prosecution of the cases. He said he will be monitoring the outcome of the cases carefully to make sure they “yield some pretty significant results.”

“We want to see it succeed big-time,” Duffy said.

By next month, the district attorney’s office hopes to begin investigating suspected violators of state fish and game laws.

While the library services and district attorney’s office have only recently stepped up their fund-raising attempts, the Sheriff’s Department has been running its canine unit with the help of private donations since 1986.

Last year, the unit received about $100,000 in contributions, mostly from the estate of a county resident who included the canine program in his will.

Lt. Joe Harwell, who oversees the four-dog unit, said the money enabled the Sheriff’s Department to purchase two new dogs and continue training efforts. Overall, the department spent about $25,000 last year on the unit.

“We’re in pretty good shape,” Harwell said. “Every time we had reductions, that program was one we would look at. But since it is funded by private donations, it is kept away from the budget ax.”