County Law Enforcement Funds in Jeopardy

Efforts to shield Los Angeles County’s key law enforcement agencies from deep budget cuts were in jeopardy Thursday, as Chief Administrative Officer Sally Reed proposed additional cutbacks to offset state-imposed funding losses.

Reed has estimated that the county will lose at least $350 million under the state budget approved this week by the Legislature and awaiting Gov. Pete Wilson’s signature. That is in addition to more than $107 million in local shortfalls that still must be dealt with.

The Board of Supervisors in May tentatively approved a $14.7-billion spending plan for fiscal 1994-95 that called for closing parks, pools, libraries and health clinics, and cutting other services to balance the budget.

Supervisors in recent months had sought to spare law enforcement from shouldering the major brunt of budget cuts, forging deals with the sheriff, the district attorney and the Probation Department that substantially held funding at current levels.

But the state’s budget actions will likely nullify those deals. Reed is now proposing cuts of nearly $73 million for the Sheriff’s Department, $25 million for the Probation Department and nearly $10 million for the district attorney.

The proposed cuts to public safety far outweigh those aimed at other departments. But Reed, in an interview, said that the cuts were evenly distributed--about 11.8% across the board--and that there was no attempt to single out law enforcement.

She noted that a sizable portion of the state-imposed loss--$140 million--comes from shifting additional property tax revenue from the county’s general fund to schools. It is from the general fund that the sheriff, district attorney and Probation Department receive the bulk of their revenue.

Reed called the current budget outlook grim.

“We don’t have the resources in the long term to make this thing work at this level,” she said. “We’ve been patching (the budget) together for years and now we’re looking at a situation where we’re barely able to hold onto services for a few months, let alone a year.”

Supervisor Mike Antonovich described the proposed new cuts as “shocking.” He said he could not comment fully because he had not reviewed the proposals in detail.

Sheriff’s officials said the proposed cuts would require closure of four jail facilities, the loss of 7,500 jail beds and layoff of 1,000 workers, including more than 700 deputies.

“At a time when the governor is beefing up state correction departments, when the community is expressing the need for law enforcement here in Los Angeles, when we are called upon to deal with civil disturbances like that in Huntington Park following the soccer match, she is suggesting we can cut 700 positions,” said Fred Ramirez, director of administrative services for the sheriff. “It’s got to have an impact on the community.”

No one from the district attorney’s office was available Thursday to comment on the proposed cuts.

Probation Chief Barry J. Nidorf said the cuts would gut major parts of his department, virtually eliminating adult services, for example. Also eliminated would be Municipal Court investigations and special crime prevention programs. The cuts would result in about 680 layoffs, he said.

“Decimated is probably not a strong enough word,” he said. “It becomes critical in terms of public safety because the word will get out that no matter how bad a crime you’ve committed, probation’s not going to supervise you,” he said.

Other county departments are hit under the new proposals as well.

* The Department of Children’s Services, already scheduled to lose nearly $12 million, will now be asked to cut an additional $5 million from its budget.

* The Department of Public Social Services, expecting a $5.3-million cut, would take an additional $8.7-million hit.

* The Parks and Recreation Department is being asked to take an additional $3.2-million reduction, on top of $6.8 million previously proposed.

The board is scheduled to begin budget deliberations Wednesday.