Potential Solutions to Crisis Neither Simple Nor Painless

The proposal of the Reason Foundation of Los Angeles offers a dangerous and simplistic solution for the financial recovery of Orange County. Privatization is a new political buzzword that does not get to the heart of increasing bureaucracy or even diminution of costs of government. For example, an across-the-board 10% reduction of personnel ignores an evaluation of differentiation of essential services from luxury county departments we can no longer afford or that are no longer needed. Slashing pay and benefits for remaining county employees also misses the heart of the matter.

When I served one full year on the 1964 Orange County Grand Jury, Robert Beaver, a Lincoln Club member in good standing then and now, was a leader on that jury who proposed and implemented the first management audit of county government by a Big Eight accounting firm. This is the way to separate the wheat from the chaff without a wholesale depletion of trained personnel resources. Trained personnel are an asset, not a liability.

Thirty-five years ago, Orange County was primarily agricultural with most of its area unincorporated. Thus there was need for county government and its services. Today we have gone from 16 to 31 almost contiguous cities and considerably less incorporated area. However, in the interim county government has increased. Is a 10% cut an adequate solution, or is a 5% or 20% cut better? An across-the-board 10% cut does not answer the question as to which county departments are basic to providing essential services.

Asset sales? In my 38 years of residence in Orange County, I have lived through many ups and downs in the cyclical valuation of real estate--the long-term trend, however, has always been up. The same is true of blue-chip equities assets that will only increase in worth and add to the GNP of Orange County? This is a thoughtless solution that ignores historical trends.

Instead let us do a cost-benefit analysis of special districts and overlapping bureaucracies. What about joint-powers agreements? Surely selling the water and sanitation districts will not reduce continuously increasing costs of services to residents. Cut out the waste, not the heart in government.

LUCILLE KUEHN

Corona del Mar

* Referring to the Orange County Board of Supervisors and the county employees as a “family” is an oxymoron--unless, of course, the parents are extremely dysfunctional, overly self-involved, irresponsible with family money, poor role models, engage in dishonest and untruthful behavior, lack motivation to defend issues, lack proper parenting skills, fail to express a decent and humane set of values, unable to select a healthy peer group, lack concern for others and generally disregard the greater community well-being.

DUDLEY WOOD

Huntington Beach

* One thing (that) puzzles me about the Orange County bankruptcy is the need to keep the investment fund solvent and in operation. Another thing that puzzles me is the recent proposal from the Business Leadership Council to increase taxes to keep the county investment fund solvent.

Now my assumption is that the fund was created in the first place as an intermediate place to store funds prior to their being used to conduct the appropriate business of running some government operation. For example, property taxes were deposited by school districts so they could earn some interest prior to being used during the school year. Now, if this was the original intent of the funds, it has obviously escalated to being a fund whose sole purpose is to make money. In that case, all of the governments that invested money into this fund had too much money to start with .

That means that the tax rates were too high.

The questions that the media needs to ask are: Where did all of the extra money come from? Why do we need to perpetuate this monetary fund? Why can’t we just pay off the bonds and the loans and then not have such an extravagant fund?

Keep government simple, let it do its duty with the resources that it has from an adequately funded tax base. Don’t let it fail in performing its duty by unwisely investing in schemes.

JOHN WALTER

Lake Forest

* As an Irvine resident for more than 20 years and a concerned observer of the American political scene all of my life, I have been following the Orange County economic crisis since it first became public. The last several days two different aspects aroused my ire.

George Argyros used his considerable political and financial influence to push Proposition A onto last November’s ballot and down the throats of the communities most affected by the use of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. Now, Mr. Argyros is pushing for a strong voice in the decisions regarding the solutions to Orange County’s bankruptcy crisis. Want to bet that the sale of John Wayne Airport is high on his list of things to do?

A flagrant conflict of interest, Mr. Argyros! Even as a young Republican in the 1950s I couldn’t buy old Charlie Wilson’s statement, “What’s good for General Motors is good for the country.” And I can’t buy “What’s good for George Argyros is good for Orange County.” Let’s not leave it to George!

BARBARA B. SILLESEN

Irvine

* As an employee of the County of Orange, I am getting sick and tired of listening to people from places such as the Reason Foundation who propose to solve the county’s money shortage by cutting staff and reducing salaries. I agree that there have to be some staff cuts, but they must be reasonable. The staff size in the unit in which I work has already been cut 30% without a corresponding reduction in workload. Everyone is doing extra work and most management-level personnel are putting in extra hours at no extra pay.

Will you please explain to me why the remaining employees should do more work and take a cut in pay also?

ELIZABETH ESTRADA

Mission Viejo

* It’s so interesting that Robert W. Poole Jr., “think tank” genius, believes that jobs should be plentiful for laid-off county workers. Does this “genius” realize that most of the jobs that reflect the 4.1% unemployment are minimum wage or near minimum wage? Does he realize that the December statistics he quotes are padded with seasonal or temporary jobs? And does this “expert” realize when he urges us to “put the interests of citizens and taxpayers first” that county employees are citizens and taxpayers?

I find it interesting that Mr. Poole didn’t recognize the fact that the business community supports a sales tax increase as the most equitable way to address the deficit.

WARREN BEACOM

Anaheim