County Sees No Inflation Mandate for New Fiscal Year in Prop. 172 : Finances: Public-safety agencies may not receive an immediate infusion of funds as supervisors strive to balance budget.

After promising never to cut public-safety budgets, Ventura County officials said they are under no obligation to allocate limited county dollars to increase those budgets for the new fiscal year.

The county’s legal adviser said a new ordinance approved by supervisors last month does not mandate an increase for inflation over the next 12 months--an increase that would cost the cash-strapped county $1 million to $3 million. The fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30.

Although acknowledging that the law “probably could have been written more clearly,” sheriff’s officials said there is no question that the inflation provision was intended to include the 1995-96 fiscal year. The ordinance does provide for inflationary costs every year afterward.

“Why in the world would we not want one year’s inflationary costs?” Undersheriff Richard Bryce asked. “That doesn’t make sense.”

Still, Bryce said, there is nothing in the law to stop the supervisors from allocating additional funding.

“Regardless of the interpretation [of the ordinance], they can still give us the money,” he said.

County Counsel James McBride said the supervisors do in fact have the authority if they choose to provide additional funding for the sheriff, district attorney, public defender or probation departments.

“There is some flexibility to do that,” he said.

The dispute puts county supervisors in an awkward position. Searching for $19 million in budget cuts to other county departments, they can scarcely afford an increase for public-safety agencies.

At the same time, they want to avoid a politically bruising fight with law enforcement officials.

Supervisors John Flynn, Judy Mikels and Frank Schillo--who provided the three votes for the ordinance--did not rule out providing additional funds for the Sheriff’s Department and other agencies.

But all three said that when they approved the law, they were under the impression that the inflation provision would not take effect until next year.

“That was my idea when I supported it,” Flynn said.

The main purpose of the law was to guarantee that all sales-tax revenue generated by Proposition 172 would go to certain public-safety agencies. The half-cent sales tax is expected to add more than $30 million to county coffers this year.

In addition, the ordinance exempted public-safety agencies from future cuts in their regular budgets and called for the county to pay for any inflationary costs “in subsequent years.”

The supervisors, who are looking to cut more than $19 million next month to balance the county budget, said it is too early to know how the inflation issue will be resolved. But they said they want to do everything possible to avoid a budget battle with public-safety officials.

“I don’t think we’re going to accomplish anything until everybody drops their swords and sits down and talks,” Mikels said.

Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury could not be reached for comment Thursday.

But Bryce said public-safety officials also want to avoid a confrontation and will continue to work with the county to reach a settlement.

“We’re not trying to get more money than we need by any means,” he said. “We only want as much money as we need for our operations.”

If his department gets no additional funding, it could affect operations at the new Todd Road Jail, Bryce said, adding that it could also determine whether the sheriff would be able to take over additional services in the future as a cost-saving measure for the county.

Sheriff Larry Carpenter and Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury have been talking to supervisors about assuming responsibility for a wide range of services, from airport security to prosecuting code-enforcement cases. The officials would pay the cost of providing such services out of their own budgets and would not receive extra county funding.

“There are certain things we can do for the county if they handle things the right way,” Bryce said. “But . . . how things shake out, and whether we wind up absorbing some of these functions, is still up in the air.”