ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : O.C. Supervisors Blanch Over Social Service Cuts : Bankruptcy: They call proposed 25% funding reduction too drastic, order CEO Popejoy to find money elsewhere.

Calling proposed spending cuts for the county’s Social Services Agency unreasonably harsh, the Board of Supervisors on Thursday directed Chief Executive Officer William J. Popejoy to find a way to restore $4 million to the agency’s 1995-96 budget and spread the pain to other departments.

Led by an impassioned Supervisor William G. Steiner, former head of the Orangewood Children’s Home, the supervisors said the proposed 25% cut and 725 layoffs in the agency were too severe. But they took no formal vote on the matter.

“This is either a wish list or a death threat,” Supervisor Marian Bergeson said. “But it’s completely unrealistic.”

Steiner warned Popejoy that he would not support a proposed sales tax increase deemed crucial to the county’s financial recovery if the Social Services Agency is forced to absorb a disproportionate share of the proposed $188 million in budget cuts and 1,040 layoffs.

“Some departments have not even broken a sweat,” Steiner said. “I ask you not to ask me for my vote to take a sales tax to the voters when you’re seeing this kind of game-playing,” Steiner said.

Clearly disturbed by some of the testimony they heard over the past three days, the supervisors also asked Popejoy to explore alternatives to proposed cuts in a variety of other agencies, including a program that provides medical examinations for the elderly, closure of the Joplin Youth Center for juvenile offenders and closure of the Bowerman landfill.

Their comments capped a day of dramatic, sometimes tearful, public comments in which dozens of people, from health and social service administrators to the homeless, pleaded for supervisors to show restraint with the budget ax when considering programs for the poor.

Tom Uram, director of the county Health Care Agency, which faces a 30% reduction in its county funding, warned supervisors that they have pushed it to the brink.

The agency’s “ability to deliver adequate health, mental health and prevention care to the citizens of Orange County is dangerously close to being lost,” he said. “Some say we’ve gone over the line already.”

Mental health and drug abuse services, in particular, would take a harsh blow under the plan, accounting for more than half of the $12.1 million in proposed cutbacks.

In an attempt to reduce layoffs, the board also approved a retirement incentive program that could save the county $11 million if at least 200 county employees sign up for it.

Under the plan, employees have until March 30 to retire early, using accrued vacation, sick and compensatory time to boost retirement benefits.

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Proposed cuts to the Social Services Agency would require it to dramatically reduce or eliminate many of its abuse prevention programs and would increase social workers’ caseloads to the point where they could not comply with state and federal requirements for investigating and reporting abuse.

Steiner said reinstating about $4 million to the agency’s budget would also allow it to hold onto another $19 million in state and federal matching grants that would otherwise be lost.

Under Popejoy’s proposal, the Social Services Agency is slated to lose $18.4 million in county money, plus $33.9 million in state and federal matching funds. Steiner made no concrete proposal on where Popejoy should find the additional $4 million, but he and the other supervisors said they remain committed to cutting the full $188 million from next year’s budget.

“I am asking the CEO to . . . take a second look,” he said. “That added $4 million will allow us to keep $19 million in state and federal money. It will not prevent layoffs, it will not salvage all preventive programs, and some welfare offices will still close, but for the most part the mandates will be met.”

Supervisor Jim Silva, however, said he knew of specific areas where Popejoy might find money to restore to the Social Services budget.

Silva said $3.1 million might be taken from the county recorder’s office with little harm. About $942,000 of the money is unbudgeted, Silva said, and the remainder comes from equipment and programs--not jobs.

“This level of cuts (to the Social Services Agency) may not be necessary, because if there’s money that’s not earmarked, then it should go to Social Services,” Silva said.

And Supervisor Roger R. Stanton demanded to know why layoffs and program cuts were being considered while some agencies still carry funded--but unfilled--positions on their books.

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Steiner’s suggestions came after the Social Services Agency’s director, Larry Leaman, outlined how the proposed cuts would result in the closing of regional welfare offices and unanswered reports of child abuse.

“At peak workload times, the agency will be unable to respond to all child abuse reports and comply with its mandated response times,” Leaman said. As caseloads of child welfare workers rise, more children will end up at Orangewood Children’s Home, others will be released to unsafe conditions and caseworkers will make more mistakes, Leaman said.

To meet the proposed budget cuts, the agency would be forced to reduce the staff of the Child Abuse Registry, which handles initial reports of abuse, and positions for another 175 social workers in the Children’s Services Department.

Also eliminated would be a program that stations social workers at various schools, as well as the Parents and Children Together program, a parenting course for people at risk of having the county remove their children from their homes.

Should the proposed cuts be implemented, the Social Services Agency would no longer provide support services for children living with relatives who serve as foster parents. Nor would it evaluate group homes, which house 600 children countywide, Leaman said.

“We do feel we will be unable, in most areas, to serve our clients to the minimal level we would want,” Leaman said.

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A recent state appellate court ruling against Los Angeles County indicates that courts do not consider a county’s financial problems to be an excuse for failing to comply with state regulations, Leaman said. If the cuts are implemented, the county should expect individual and class-action suits, he said.

The idea of costly litigation was not an appealing one to supervisors.

“I think we need to have a realistic view of what we can do to not put us so far out of compliance,” Bergeson said.

Although his Health Care Agency would not lose nearly as many workers as the Social Services Agency, Uram outlined proposed cutbacks that he said could breach the county’s medical safety net.

The proposal, which calls for 36 layoffs, includes a $1-million reduction in medical services to the indigent, cuts in jail medical staffs, and outright elimination of a perinatal outreach program and home health services to people recently discharged from hospitals.

But the health-care proposal that drew perhaps the greatest protest from audience members would yield a savings of just $131,000. It is the county’s Eldercare program, in which nurses visit the county’s 30 senior centers and provide education, exams and prevention services to senior citizens.

“Above all costs, we’d like to retain our nurse,” said Verna Kriss, 81, a volunteer at the Costa Mesa Senior Center. “Losing her would be like losing the heart of our center.”

During a break in the hearing, Popejoy said he would look into Silva’s proposals, but made no predictions on where he might find $4 million. He also said officials should determine the consequences of noncompliance with state and federal mandates before treating them like sacred cows.

“I think we have to understand what failure to meet mandates means,” Popejoy said. “We cannot create money where there is no money. If the courts can tell us how we can provide services without money, then that will be interesting.”

Many in the audience came prepared to wrangle with the board, but were forestalled by its support for Steiner’s suggestions.

“I came in loaded for bear, but I was very surprised by Supervisor Steiner’s and Silva’s looking for some way to (avert) some of the more Draconian cuts,” said community activist Lee Podalak.

Others were not mollified. They pleaded, exhorted and admonished the board not to cut services to elderly residents, indigent people and children.

In one of the most dramatic pleas to the board, Julia Sutton, 36, urged supervisors to consider the human toll of the budget cuts. With her 5-month old son in her arms, Sutton told of her own struggle with drug addiction, and of the invaluable assistance county social workers provided as she conquered her habit.

Without their help, “my baby could be in Orangewood, or worse, dead,” she said.

In a comment that drew loud applause from the packed audience, Sutton begged the board: “Don’t let Orange County’s bankruptcy problems bankrupt your heart.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Slashing Social Services

The Social Services Agency would lose $18.4 million in county money, plus $33.9 million in state and federal matching funds, under a budget plan submitted by CEO William J. Popejoy. Supervisors called the cuts excessive and want $4 million restored, but Popejoy made no promises. Here is how the cuts would impact SSA if Popepoy’s plan prevails:

OPERATING BUDGET

Salaries: 65% Services and supplies: 26 Other costs 9

NET COUNTY COST (in millions)

Beginning of FY 1994-95: $48.6 FY 1995-96: 30.2

The Ramifications

Administration * Computer and systems support reduced 35%; ends ability to install, expand systems * Training reduced 50%; limits support to operating divisions * Management support capability reduced 50%; cuts building maintenance, security, purchasing * Management analysis staff reduced 75%; eliminates emergency preparedness planning * Research staff reduced 40%; limits analysis of caseloads, pilot project evaluation * Quality control support for financial assistance programs reduced 60% * Human resources/accounting services reduced 25%; causes backlogs in personnel issues, class studies, welfare payments and overpayment collections

Children’s Services * Child Abuse Registry response times will increase * Some calls will be lost or abandoned and waiting time will vary * Agency will be unable to respond to all abuse reports and comply with mandated response times * Increased caseloads will mean: --Potential for assessment mistakes increases --More children brought into custody --Response shifts to local law enforcement --Release of children into unsafe conditions --Premature dismissal of cases --Noncompliance with case management mandates * School-based intervention/prevention cut; 2,500 children annually do not receive services * Staff supporting 600 foster families reduced from 11 to 4

Adult, Refugee and Employment Services * GAIN program scaled back to serve 1,500 fewer welfare recipients; results in $700,000 reduced grant savings * Inability to respond to some reports of adult abuse * Response and processing delays endanger some elderly and disabled * In-Home Supportive Services caseloads 134% of target; $183,000 in federal revenues not accepted to save $37,000 in county general funds * Worker caseloads 185% of target; $189,000 in state/federal revenues not accepted to save $72,000 in county general funds * Noncompliance with laws/regulations will regularly occur; increased risk of legal liability and compliance enforcement action

Financial Assistance * Delayed processing of AFDC, food stamps, Medi-Cal, other aid * Cost shifts produce “overmatches” in 100% funded programs, staff reductions in Medi-Cal and welfare fraud investigation * Withdrawal of eligibility services from hospitals, clinics * Inconvenience to clients due to office closures * Inability to give all clients in crisis immediate assistance * Caseloads in AFDC and food stamps will average 175% above state targets * Medi-Cal caseloads will average 151% above state targets * Financial assistance operating budget will be unable to capture $27.6 million in state, federal funding to save $4.6 million in county general fund costs * Noncompliance regularly occurs with risk of legal liability and compliance enforcement action

Source: Orange County Social Services Agency

* PANEL BACKS MOORLACH

Lone treasurer candidate sails through advisory hearings. A29

* HAGGLING CONTINUES

O.C. officials miss deadline for settling with investors. A32

* COVERAGE: A29-32