L.A. County’s Dramatic Scramble for Dollars : Supervisors must ensure L.A. doesn’t suffer O.C.’s fiscal fate

Now it’s for real, and no one should play games--not the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors or any other elected officials. All departments must stop complaining about cuts and start squeezing all they can from their budgets. We know this is an unpopular, grim message. But someone has to say it. There--we just have.

At Tuesday’s long and rancorous budget meeting, the supervisors insisted--for now--that all departments are subject to cuts, consolidation and downsizing. And even then new county fees or taxes might be required. The board knows that it can no longer forgo tough decisions and cobble together budgets as in years past by using accounting gimmicks, mortgaging assets and borrowing against the future. Now, faced with an unprecedented deficit of $1.2 billion, the county must act.

STATE RELIEF: Maintaining public safety is clearly a top priority and providing health services is a county obligation. State mandates require certain levels of services in both areas. Sacramento could provide some relief by giving counties flexibility in paying general assistance or allowing them new ways to raise revenue. Gov. Pete Wilson has expanded the current special legislative session to consider budget problems faced by Los Angeles and other counties. The state, after all, did balance its budget on the backs of the counties. Los Angeles County has never recovered from that $1 billion in property tax the state has withheld since 1991.

Though the Board of Supervisors has not required the sheriff, the coroner and the probation and health services departments to take the immediate 20% cuts it has imposed on most other county departments, it has not ruled out reductions for them. Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti adamantly refused to consider any cuts at Tuesday’s meeting, but the board refused to grant his request for a total exemption.

For his part, Sheriff Sherman Block will keep the Biscailuz Center and the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho closed--the equivalent of a $28-million, or 5%, budget savings. But his department has been targeted for $65 million more in cuts. At Tuesday’s meeting, an angry Block said he has hired private lawyers to sue the board if, contrary to state law, it takes away $22.9 million in Proposition 172 public safety funds. He makes his point with the threat of a lawsuit, but sorry, sheriff, the money for lawyers would be better spent for other purposes. It’s ridiculous to use county bucks to sue the county--and voters wouldn’t like it one bit.

TIPPLER TAX: As the scramble for dollars proceeds apace, one idea is to impose a 10% tax on all alcoholic drinks served in restaurants and bars. The narrowly drawn bill, thoughtfully offered by freshman Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa (D-Los Angeles), would enable all counties to use the so-called tippler’s tax to raise funds. For Los Angeles County a tippler’s tax, which the supervisors indicate they would impose, would raise as much as $200 million. That amount alone is no magic bullet, but the new revenue would help considerably. Orange County, among others, also might find such an option useful, but voters in that bankrupt county clearly are in a no-tax mood.

Months ago L.A. County’s chief administrative officer, Sally Reed, began warning of the looming fiscal crisis. She wasn’t crying wolf then, and the latest information shows she wasn’t exaggerating the figures. The time of fiscal reckoning is at hand. The five supervisors must do the jobs they were elected to do--govern and manage responsibly--or Los Angeles County voters may be as unforgiving as their angry neighbors in Orange County have been. That would be bad for the political careers of the board members, but even worse for those who reside and work in what needs to remain a livable Los Angeles County.