The $125-Million Misunderstanding : People wonder about the county finding all that money through efficiencies

It turns out that we weren’t the only ones disturbed by the news that Los Angeles County had suddenly found another $125 million in the budget.

An extra $125 million? Why look a gift horse in the mouth? It’s clearly good news for the county, right?

Well, yes and no. The extra money apparently was the result of belt-tightening that worked better than expected; County Administrative Officer Harry L. Hufford said the windfall wasn’t discovered until late August when departments submitted their final financial tallies. Of course the money can be productively used. Hufford is recommending that it be directed toward a county labor budget gap. The Board of Supervisors may have other plans.

It’s hard to fault the county for trimming its spending more efficiently than anyone had thought it could. But there is a clear downside to the discovery of the one-time surplus, and it can be summed up in a word: credibility. The county doesn’t have much of it in Sacramento, the cash cow for the state’s counties, and this latest bookkeeping “oops” cannot enhance its political stature there.

More important, the discovery is not likely to aid its political credibility with voters, who are being asked to extend a half-cent sales tax in November. Traditionally, voters see taxes as a last resort. They are likely to become more than a little irritated if they feel that government officials cried poor-mouth, only suddenly to announce “and whaddya know, another $125 million,” as if the amount were merely loose change. Now, this is not big money relative to the county’s $13.5-billion overall budget, but $125 million in any context is nothing to sneeze at these days.

Another danger is that the development may provide an excuse for Gov. Pete Wilson to veto two bills that are of key importance to L.A. County: one that would help fund libraries through new assessment districts and one that would direct tobacco tax money to the county to help keep health clinics open.

Given the sorry history of the county’s failed lobbying efforts in Sacramento, it doesn’t need to give state leaders renewed reason to question how officials here do business. (The county doesn’t have nearly the clout that its size suggests, a fact spotlighted again this year during the bruising state budget deliberations.) In this case, the county managed to take what should only have been a positive--a windfall due to budget-trimming--and turn it into yet another reason to wonder why L.A. County can’t seem to get its act together.