$6 Million? Who Needs It? : Feds can’t give the money away to slow-footed county government

When it comes to cash, it seems that the federal government can’t manage to give it away and L. A. County can’t manage to spend it.

In both cases, unfortunately, it’s the taxpayer who’s the big loser. The bureaucratic bungling would be comical if it wasn’t so tragic.

After the Los Angeles riots, the Federal Emergency Management Agency earmarked nearly $6 million for crisis counseling to help thousands of traumatized residents who had lost family, businesses and homes. Obviously a good idea, right? Except that six months after the spring riots last year, the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health had to return nearly half of the grant for failing to spend the money. The county failed to spend the money despite two deadline extensions.

Nevertheless the county received a second federal grant, this one for $8.4 million. It was due to expire this month but again has been extended until November while county workers try to find ways to use the money.

Yes, something is very wrong with this picture. Why was a second grant given if the county couldn’t adequately handle the first? And why couldn’t it adequately handle the first?

Apparently, there’s plenty of blame to go around: The federal government had such cumbersome paperwork requirements that some private mental health agencies that could have helped counsel residents shied away from the money rather than deal with tedious record-keeping; and county counselors, used to a bare-bones budget that allows doing only the minimal work required to help the chronically mentally ill, had no experience in setting up this sort of crisis counseling.

Traumatized Los Angeles residents would have been better served, said mental health experts, had the money gone directly to mental health clinics, instead of the county receiving $750,000 just to administer it. What a horrible waste!

Sounds like a classic case for Vice President Al Gore’s panel on reinventing government. Some government around here definitely needs “reinventing.”