Board Supports County Budget but Vows Trims

A preliminary Orange County budget that would add more than 100 new jobs and restore some programs slashed in the wake of the bankruptcy won qualified support Tuesday from county supervisors, who vowed to scale back some spending increases during budget deliberations this summer.

The supervisors also created a special debt repayment account, with some saying that any unspent funds--such as $47 million left over from this year’s budget--should be used primarily to retire the $880 million in new county debt taken on as part of the county’s bankruptcy recovery plan.

Supervisor Don Saltarelli, who proposed the repayment account, said he would only support a final county budget if it included a “very large” contribution of surplus funds to the account.

The county is entering the 1996-97 budget cycle with the $47-million surplus because of lower-than-expected spending by county departments.

Under the preliminary budget plan proposed by County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier, the surplus would have been directed back into county programs.

But Saltarelli said a “substantial” portion of the windfall should go instead to debt repayment--a move he said would save the county millions in interest payments.

“We need to pay back our debts as soon as possible and hold down the costs of government,” he said.

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The county emerged from bankruptcy earlier this month when it paid off most county creditors with proceeds of the $880-million issue of recovery bonds, which are to be repaid over the next 30 years with tax revenue diverted from road, redevelopment, park and flood-control programs.

Even though the county has emerged from bankruptcy, supervisors said it must resist the urge to expand programs and staffing until it gains a more solid financial footing.

“Some people say that we are now out of bankruptcy and we can go back to the 1994 funding levels,” Supervisor Jim Silva said. “We can’t do that. The money isn’t there.”

Supervisor William G. Steiner agreed. “There is no question that we have a lot of needs out there,” he said. “But we don’t have the luxury of restoring programs at this point.”

In addition to debt repayment, the board made inmate overcrowding at county jails and juvenile detention facilities top budget priorities.

The board voted to convene a task force that will examine the overcrowding issue and report its findings in August--the same month supervisors will conduct public hearings on various aspects of the budget. The board is expected adopt a final budget by September.

The preliminary $3.48-billion budget represents a 0.8%--or $28 million--spending increase over this year’s $3.45 billion. But it remains smaller than the $3.7-billion budget approved a few months before the county’s December 1994 bankruptcy filing.

The budget calls for the hiring of 108 new workers, most of them in the public protection side of the county bureaucracy.

The Sheriff’s Department would see its budget increase by 9.4%, to $202,115,000, and would gain 66 new jobs. Officials said the positions would help restore staffing at the jails and in the crime lab, which has experienced backlogs in casework. Earlier this year, the board approved an additional 33 positions to staff what was then an empty wing of the Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange.

The Probation Department, which suffered severe budget reductions last year, would see an additional 5% cut under the proposed 1996-97 budget. But the cut reflects accounting changes more than dollar losses, and officials said the department should be able to maintain most of its existing programs.

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Probation Director Michael Schumacher said overcrowding at juvenile detention centers remains a serious problem. In recent weeks, the total inmate population reached a new high of 501, even though the county’s facilities are designed to house only 374 juveniles.

Schumacher said the overcrowding has forced the department to continue releasing some nonviolent offenders before their sentences are completed. For the last two years, only juveniles involved in felony cases have been booked into the detention centers.

“What message does that send to juveniles?” asked Supervisor Marian Bergeson, saying the matter needs to be addressed.

The Sheriff’s Department is also facing a growing overcrowding problem at its adult jails. Sheriff Brad Gates wants to move forward with an expansion of Theo Lacy and perhaps construction of a jail in Lake Forest, but the county lacks the needed funds.

Gates said the county would gain nearly $100 million in jail construction funds if a statewide prison bond measure is placed on the November ballot and voters approve it.

Saltarelli and Bergeson also called on officials to consider jump-starting a long-stalled plan to build a new courthouse in South County, perhaps through a public-private partnership.