Vasquez Will Push to Protect Budgets of Sheriff and D.A. : Spending: Outgoing supervisor wants agencies safeguarded. At least one colleague is dubious.

In a parting gesture of support for Orange County’s sheriff and district attorney, outgoing Board of Supervisors Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez said Tuesday he will introduce a policy to safeguard the two agencies from any future raids on their funding.

A working draft of the proposal by Vasquez, a reserve police officer who is scheduled to leave the board next Tuesday, says that future growth in a public safety sales tax imposed by Proposition 172 cannot be factored in when future supervisors decide how much general fund money the two law enforcement agencies should receive.

At least one of Vasquez’s board colleagues, Marian Bergeson, says she’s opposed to the idea because it would tie the hands of future boards who may need to reduce general fund contributions to the Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office to help other county agencies suffering through the bankruptcy.

“Does it make any sense to allow a department to continue with a surplus of funds when the rest of the county’s budget could fall apart?” asked Bergeson, who deems herself a staunch supporter of Prop. 172.

“It’s a basic budget policy that you need to fund programs based on the needs of those programs--not what it can get,” she said.

Tim Shaw, an advocate for the homeless and a leader of Orange County Partnership for Responsible Public Policy, said the proposal ignores the impact of multimillion-dollar cuts in the county’s health and social service programs during the bankruptcy.

“The guns and batons of sheriff’s deputies will not protect us from TB, or protect children who are in abusive homes. And they won’t stop the spread of AIDS,” Shaw said. “Both law enforcement and these types of programs are equally important.”

At issue are the revenues generated by the statewide half-cent sales tax enacted under Prop. 172 and dedicated to public safety. Last year, Orange County received $140 million in Prop. 172 funds, $7 million more than was anticipated. The money is divided between the Sheriff’s Department, which gets 80%, and the office of the district attorney, which gets the balance.

*

County officials project a $7.4-million increase in Prop. 172 revenues this coming fiscal year, and deducted a like amount from the recommended appropriations for the two agencies in preparing the newest budget, said county spokeswoman Lynne Fishel.

While Gates and Capizzi have gone along with the current budget plan, they want to make sure it doesn’t happen again in the future, officials said.

Capizzi said staffers from his office and Gates’ department began formulating the policy in recent days as the county grappled with its most dramatically reduced budget in recent history. Because of the bankruptcy, discretionary spending has been slashed 41% from the previous year’s spending budget, making every penny count.

Capizzi and Assistant Sheriff Doug Storm said the public’s overwhelming support for Prop. 172, and repeated polls ranking crime as the top concern of residents, prompted them to push for the proposed policy.

“The voters wanted to have an adequate level of law enforcement service,” Storm said. “Gaddi’s proposal will ensure that there is no diversion of that funding in the future.”

“This is nothing new or novel,” said Capizzi. “It just reduces to writing what has been a matter of policy and what is the philosophy of the board, and it reflects and carries out the wishes and intents of the voters.”

Vasquez did not return phone calls; Gates was unavailable for comment.

Supervisor William G. Steiner said he believes any growth in Prop. 172 funds should be used to help support a variety of projects--such as jail expansions--that the bankrupt county can ill afford.

Shaw, however, said he believes a compromise can be struck by using growth to pay for inmate health care, which he said is currently funded by the overburdened Health Care Agency, which has suffered $12 million in cuts since the bankruptcy.

The Social Services Agency took a even bigger hit, losing $19 million in county funding, which in turn caused the county to lose roughly $25 million in state and federal matching funds.

In comparison, Capizzi said his agency will lose about $4 million in county funds, while budget figures show the Sheriff’s Department is losing about $8 million in county funds.

The budget is expected to be finalized next Tuesday.