Cuts Would Force County to Close 2 Hospitals : Budget: Officials also warn that Wilson plan would lead to major cutbacks in other departments. Supervisors plan to seek new taxes while fighting governor’s proposal.

Los Angeles County would be forced to close two of its six major hospitals and exact across-the-board cuts affecting the sheriff, district attorney, welfare and most other departments if Gov. Pete Wilson’s new budget proposal is implemented, county officials warned Tuesday.

The county could lose as much as $350 million in revenue under the Wilson plan, with about half of all the losses affecting the giant public health system.

Chief Administrative Officer Sally Reed said that all departmental budgets will be reopened and would probably be in for a new round of cuts.

The situation could worsen as the Legislature debates and modifies the proposal in the coming weeks.

“These estimates could be low,” said Health Services Director Robert C. Gates. “The actual damage could be much greater. . . . It’s a very grim picture.”

Assessing the damage, Supervisor Gloria Molina shook her head and said: “We’ve got a hell of a headache.”

Molina said that although the county has been accused of “crying wolf” in past budgets, this time the situation is truly dire. “Hey, we’re closing hospitals,” Molina said. “It’s very real. We’re not going to pull money like that out of our hats.”

The County Board of Supervisors vowed to fight the Wilson plan by calling on area legislators for help as the budget process moves through the Assembly and Senate. But several supervisors acknowledged that there is little hope that the Legislature will adopt the wholesale changes to the governor’s budget plan that would be necessary to help the county.

Instead, supervisors said they will concentrate on winning support for new taxes.

The board has endorsed legislation for expanded authority to levy taxes to support libraries.

Supervisors will seek authority to impose a nickel-a-drink “tipplers” tax on alcoholic beverages served in all county bars and restaurants. Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said she spoke with Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) about the plan Monday and that he agreed to consider it.

Tuesday, the supervisors took the first steps toward levying a $9-million parks tax.

Citing the deteriorating budget situation, the supervisors voted 3 to 2 to hold a public hearing Aug. 4 on a proposal to impose an annual tax of $24 apiece on homeowners in the unincorporated areas to prevent the closure of public pools and parks.

“Is there any other hope of saving parks in any other way?” Supervisor Deane Dana asked Reed before voting with Supervisors Burke and Ed Edelman to schedule the hearing.

“It does not look good to me at this point,” Reed said.

But Supervisors Molina and Mike Antonovich voted against the hearing, saying the tax would unfairly place the burden of funding parks on the shoulders of the 375,000 property owners living in East Los Angeles, the Antelope Valley and other unincorporated areas.

Reed said the full accounting of the governor’s budget plan, and the impact it will have on the county’s budget, will not be known for several days.

Even before Wilson released his revised budget, Los Angeles County was facing a $186-million deficit, despite significant cuts to many departments including libraries, parks, museums and assessor.

In a new round of budget cuts, the Sheriff’s Department, district attorney, and probation, health and welfare departments would be targets, Reed said. The board is scheduled to begin its final round of budget deliberations July 11.

Gates said the proposed cuts are so large that closing major facilities is the only way to close the gap. Even if the county closed all of its neighborhood clinics and medium-size regional health centers, he said, it would save only about $85 million--less than half of the amount of health care funding in jeopardy.

Gates declined to say which two hospitals he would recommend for closure until later this week.

The likely choices, he said, would be some combination of two of the following: Harbor/UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center in South-Central, Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar, High Desert Medical Center in Lancaster and Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center in Downey.

The sprawling County/USC Medical Center on the Eastside probably would not be considered for closure because of its enormous size.