County OKs Boost in Health Chief’s Pension : Government: Retirement agreement costs less than firing, board says. It also moves toward dismantling general relief program.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved an agreement that will allow embattled Health Services Director Robert C. Gates to leave office with a $25,000 pay increase and a sweetened benefits package.

The board voted without comment. Gates did not attend the meeting and could not be reached for comment.

Gates, 54, announced last week that he would step down as health director Nov. 1, after an 11-year stint marked by increasing criticism of his administration of the second-largest public health care system in the nation.

Board members have said that they liked Gates personally but that he had lost support of a majority of them and that he would have been fired eventually if he had not decided to step down.

The agreement brokered with Gates is less costly than if the county had tried to dismiss him and been obliged to offer severance pay, officials said.

Under terms of the agreement, Gates’ salary at retirement will increase from $152,110 to $177,679. The increase will boost his annual monthly pension from $5,134 to $5,998.

The health director has received critical reviews of his stewardship of the health department in past years, and the agreement would amend his 1993 and 1994 performance ratings upward to the category of “fully meets expectations.”

That boost will allow Gates to receive a retroactive cost-of-living increase to be paid in a lump sum of $15,854.

Officials said the agreement also was precipitated by mounting concern about Gates’ health and the county’s liability should the director suffer another collapse such as one in January during a heated exchange with the board.

Gates’ foe in that debate, Supervisor Gloria Molina, who has often been at odds with the health chief, had little to say Tuesday about the deal.

“It was the only agreement the county was able to strike,” she said. “It was a mutual agreement, and I supported it.”

Also Tuesday, after 1 1/2 hours of debate, the board moved to pursue legislation that would permit the dismantling of the county’s general relief program, which provides cash grants to poor adults. The vote came on the same day that the Los Angeles City Council voted to oppose such legislation.

While none of the supervisors said they would vote to scrap general relief, a majority argued that the board should have the latitude to do so as it attempts to address a projected billion-dollar budget shortfall next fiscal year.

Supervisors who support the legislation said they feared that proposed state and federal welfare reforms could leave the county vulnerable to a flood of new welfare applicants who could further tax the system.

“I don’t think there’s ever going to be a good time to seek discretion in this program,” said Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who joined Supervisors Deane Dana and Michael Antonovich in supporting the motion. “But at some point we have to level with our clients. It would be disingenuous to say there is a problem but not to take actions that allow us to address the problem.”

Molina and Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke opposed the motion.

General relief is a program of last resort for the adult poor who cannot support themselves. Nearly 93,000 people are enrolled.

Current state law mandates that counties support indigent or disabled adults who do not qualify for other kinds of public assistance, but Tuesday’s action directs county lobbyists to enlist sponsors for legislation that would make general relief discretionary.

Chief Administrative Officer Sally Reed, who first proposed the action, said the general relief program costs the county about $210 million annually. With the Sheriff’s Department and health services, it represents one of the largest uses of the county’s general fund, she said.

The board adopted an amendment by Yaroslavsky asking the state to fund general relief so the county can continue to provide the service, but that did little to satisfy opponents such as Molina.

“You’re basically saying to the state, ‘If you don’t pay for it, we don’t have to do it,’ and I think we have a duty beyond that,” she said. “Most of our work [as supervisors] involves challenges and figuring out how to meet the health and welfare needs of citizens, and we can’t abdicate that responsibility.”

The board supported a motion by Molina to establish a countywide team to devise a new general relief program geared toward emergency provision of food, clothing, medical assistance and job training.