Countywide : City Services to Survive Crisis, Officials Predict

Residents will probably not see significant cuts in city services as a result of the Orange County financial crisis, a panel of municipal officials predicted Friday.

But if the beleaguered county government does not recover, officials said, residents will witness a decline in their quality of life as social services, law enforcement, the library system and other county programs are slashed.

Speaking at a 90-minute forum titled “The Orange County Bankruptcy: A City’s Perspective,” were city managers and finance directors from Brea, Buena Park, Fullerton, La Habra, Placentia and Yorba Linda. The forum at Buena Park City Hall was organized by the League of Women Voters of North Orange County.

“The cities, for the most part, are not in the same situation as the county,” said Buena Park City Manager Kevin O’Rourke.

Buena Park, which had $29 million in the failed county-run investment pool, will experience “no dramatic changes in service levels,” O’Rourke said. The main impact at the city level, according to O’Rourke and other officials, will be delays in making infrastructure improvements.

The real danger facing residents, according to La Habra City Manager Lee Risner and other panel members, are the economic and social fallouts that would result if the county government collapses.

Brea City Manager Frank Benest called for a reassessment of governmental roles and funding sources in the wake of what he termed the fiscal “fiasco” brought on by gambling with pool investments.

Downsizing, employee layoffs and privatization are all ways to address the crisis, Benest said, but they are not enough to offset massive county losses. “This is a tremendous hole,” said Benest.