Supervisors Sidestep Decision to Order Service Cuts : Budget: They put off any move and instead tell department heads to offer plans for reduced spending. A temporary hiring freeze is adopted.

After nearly three hours of hand-wringing over how to fill a $640-million budget hole, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday directed department heads to develop plans to reduce spending but sidestepped a decision to order immediate service cutbacks.

Chief Administrative Officer Sally Reed had urged the board to implement an across-the-board hiring freeze and 8% reduction in spending, which she projected would save up to $120 million through the end of this fiscal year on June 30.

Instead, supervisors asked each department to return Feb. 23 with an outline of spending reductions, at which point they will have the option of proceeding with the cuts or considering other budget shuffling.

The board did adopt a hiring freeze, but only for three weeks, pending the departmental proposals.

Reed had asked that department heads be given broad latitude in their suggested cuts, but some supervisors indicated they were concerned that drastic reductions in services would not be worth the money saved.

“My problem is, for the amount of savings, how much do we lose?” asked Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke.

Several department heads who addressed the board Tuesday said the consequences for the county could be dire.

“I recognize that all departments are going to have to take some curtailment, but the numbers being talked about here today would result in absolute destruction of public safety in this county,” Sheriff Sherman Block said.

Block said the potential cuts in his department would force a shutdown of most of the county jail system and elimination of patrols in unincorporated areas of the county.

Anthony Hernandez, director of the coroner’s office, said cuts in his department would potentially leave the county open to expensive lawsuits.

The $640-million gap stems from a dispute with federal health authorities over reimbursements of Medi-Cal claims. The board, against Reed’s recommendation, included the money in its 1994-95 budget as revenue.