County Supervisors Send Mixed Signals on Closing Budget Gap

Los Angeles County’s Board of Supervisors sent a series of mixed messages Tuesday on how it plans to close a $900-million gap in its annual spending plan.

The supervisors approved a hiring freeze, but only after approving exemptions for seasonal and temporary workers in a wide variety of departments.

They approved hiring of more lifeguards for the summer season but also agreed to give the state a formal second notice that the county will not provide any lifeguard services at seven state-owned beaches, including Malibu, Manhattan and Point Dume, after July 1.

The supervisors then approved a plan for the district attorney to accept private funding for a special real estate fraud task force but in a parliamentary snafu failed to muster the votes for a measure that would actually allow prosecutors to spend the money.

Then the board turned back a recommendation to complete formal budget deliberations in time for the fiscal year that begins on July 1. The board will hold hearings in June but will wait until July 14 to begin its budget deliberations.

Led by Supervisor Ed Edelman, the board said it makes more sense to wait and see how the state government’s budget shapes up before tackling its own spending plan. The state, which must have its budget completed by June 1, provides most of the county’s funding.

“We’ll work with it,” Chief Administrative Officer Sally Reed said with a sigh after the meeting.

Pressure is mounting almost daily for the county to resolve its budget woes.

Just before the supervisors began their meeting Tuesday, Reed issued a report saying the county’s bond rating will probably be downgraded. She said that analysts with Moody’s Investors Service, one of the nation’s largest credit rating agencies, have indicated that they will downgrade the county’s lease transactions. As a result of the expected downgrading, the interest costs on a $100-million capital project would rise by $120,000 in the first year alone, Reed reported.

The expected downgrading follows a similar downgrading of the county’s general obligation credit last year.