ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Those Pesky Travel Bills

The Orange County agency that controls fleas, rodents and other disease-causing pests again has created ill will among taxpayers and contributed to the cynicism that many people feel about government.

The agency, the Orange County Vector Control District, spent $6,000 in April to send 19 board members and staffers to San Diego for the annual meeting of the American Mosquito Control Assn. That is far too many. True, the mosquito is one of the main targets of the district and staffers should be up to date on eradication measures. So a case can be made for sending a few staff members.

But board members had no need to go. The board consists of representatives from each of the 31 cities in the county, plus one from the county, and its membership is nearly as big as the total full-time staff of the district. After riding out the recession, government agencies should know how to tighten their belts. Board members easily can be briefed on conferences by staffers.

Last year the agency increased the fee it charged property owners from $1.10 annually to $3.19, provoking howls of protest from taxpayers. The district argued that the additional charge was needed to fight pests, and the increase appeared justified at the time. But the news that the district spent $100,000 on travel-related expenses for staff and trustees in the last three years undercut its argument.

District officials last week restricted travel to a maximum of eight board members for each annual state meeting on mosquito and pest control. That is eight too many. Send a few staffers; leave the directors at home. They can use telephones and fax machines if they need to consult with their colleagues.

Also worth considering is Supervisor William G. Steiner’s suggestion that the Vector Control District be merged into the county Health Care Agency. The Orange County Grand Jury has contended that the county has too many special districts and that some should be consolidated. Maybe the pest-chasing agency can justify an independent existence, but if it cannot it should be folded into an agency whose activities, including travel budgets, are supervised by the county supervisors.