HAWAIIAN GARDENS : Sheriff’s Department, City Wrangle Over Fees

City officials are haggling with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department over the final tab for patrolling Hawaiian Gardens before the city’s new police force took over law-enforcement duties in February.

The city still owes the Sheriff’s Department $39,000 in liability fees dating to 1992, sheriff’s officials said. The county is threatening to withhold the money from the city’s property taxes, which are collected by the county.

City Administrator Nelson Oliva said the Sheriff’s Department raised its liability fees in August, 1992, to 6% of the city’s $120,000-a-month contract payments, from 2%. The funds are set aside for court judgments against the department.

The city did not pay the higher rate for more than a year--until an audit in September, 1993, found that the increase was justified. The city then paid the higher new fee for the remainder of the time that sheriff’s deputies patrolled the city, Oliva said.

Sheriff’s Department officials say the city owes the higher fee from the date that it was imposed. Oliva insists that the city should not have to pay the higher fee for the period prior to the audit.