County Supervisors Call Report on Fiscal Woes Unfair, Biased

Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday sharply criticized a newly released report that blames much of the county’s financial woes on free-spending practices, saying the report is biased and unfair.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said the study by the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College should be given an “I” grade for incomplete. “I think they doctored it or skewed it in a way designed to achieve a certain result,” Yaroslavsky said.

Board Chairman Mike Antonovich also questioned the study’s fairness and accuracy, and asked the county’s chief administrative office to return in two weeks with a formal rebuttal.

Supervisor Gloria Molina complained that the study will give the public the false impression that the supervisors were responsible for the county’s fiscal crisis. She said the state of California is at fault because it siphoned off hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes in recent years.

The 101-page study, released Monday, was paid for by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Educational Foundation, a strong supporter of the tax-cutting Proposition 13 initiative that led to decreased tax-raising powers by local government in 1978.