Sheriff Fires an Early Volley in Budget Battle : Finances: Block says a proposed shift of $100 million in costs to his department is contrary to voters’ wishes about support for law enforcement.

Beginning the annual budget battle two months earlier than last year, Sheriff Sherman Block has accused the county’s new administrative officer, Sally Reed, of trying to shift $100 million in costs to his budget, which he says would force him to drastically cut personnel and anti-crime services.

Block claims that Reed’s moves are contrary to promises made to the electorate last fall that if it passed Proposition 172, making a half-cent sales tax increase permanent, law enforcement would at least be kept even. The statewide ballot measure passed with 62% of the vote in Los Angeles County.

The sheriff said he has talked to Gov. Pete Wilson about the matter, and the governor agreed that such a promise had been made, and assured him that, if necessary, he would seek legislation to force the county to avoid cuts and give law enforcement a priority.

A Wilson spokesman, Sean Walsh, confirmed that Wilson agrees with Block that “the various counties in the state have a responsibility to see that the voters’ will is carried out.”

Walsh added that Wilson is reviewing the situation to see if legislation is needed.

But Reed, supported by Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, the chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, is insisting that some cutbacks in the Sheriff’s Department are required to avoid unacceptably drastic cuts among other county agencies.

“The sheriff must absorb some additional costs--in salary increases and funds for the new facility in Lynwood,” Reed said. “It is not without pain that we are requiring that, but we have treated him very fairly. He’s not going to get as much as we would like to give him, or he would like to have.”

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As it is, the administrative officer said, other departments may suffer 36% cuts, while the Sheriff’s Department will have a 20% reduction, according to preliminary calculations.

Burke, in a Feb. 17 letter to Wilson, informed the governor that according to these calculations, Los Angeles County “will be short $900 million in local revenues sufficient to operate county government,” including the Sheriff’s Department.

The county has lost about $1.1 billion in property taxes that have been shifted to schools over the past two years, the supervisor said, adding that only $348 million has been replaced by the public-safety sales tax.

“We can no longer shield public safety, as we have in the past, from significant budget reductions,” Burke said.

Block, however, said he believes such county policies “will really be a betrayal to those people who voted for 172,” relying on the promises he and the governor made.

“I think the public has spoken very clearly . . . that public safety is the top priority,” Block said at a recent news conference. “There are many other programs that are important, but they cannot function effectively if there is a threat to the safety of the people who participate in them.”

Last year, the Board of Supervisors quickly restored funds to the Sheriff’s Department after Block announced that he was closing a jail and releasing hundreds of prisoners.

But Reed said she does not believe there will be such a retreat this year.

“Am I going to say no, we have to give you the money after all?” asked Reed. “I don’t think so.”

But, the administrative officer added, pressure in Sacramento may get the state to give the county more money to avert the most drastic cuts.