O.C. Funds Cuts to Force Closure of Vets Office

Orange County’s only veterans services office will close its doors Sept. 30 unless the Board of Supervisors can find $300,000 to keep the center operating, according to a county budget report released Friday.

Closure of the Santa Ana office would force the county’s 18,000 retired military personnel to use another veterans office in Los Angeles or the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Long Beach to receive services.

“This would be a great loss for the veterans and their survivors,” said William Manes, chairman of the Orange County Veterans Advisory Council. “It would be a real hardship for people. Most of those who need services are generally older veterans with low incomes or disabilities.”

The Community Services Agency office, which helps veterans through the maze of federal regulations and benefit forms, saw its staff slashed from 15 to seven employees in the wake of the December 1994 county bankruptcy. Under the proposed 1996-97 county budget, the center would only be funded for the first three months of the fiscal year, and shut down once the money runs out at the end of September.

Veterans are rallying to save the office, and at least one supervisor vowed Friday to continue funding the facility through at least next summer. “These people served their country, and now they are having a difficult time,” said Supervisor Jim Silva. “They have paid the price. It’s time for society to thank them for what they’ve done.”

The Board of Supervisors will hold a series of public hearings later this month before giving final approve to a $1.5-billion budget. While the county has little money to spare, veterans insist that officials could find the $300,000 needed to keep the office open through next June.

Some veterans pointed out that the board has already spent $1.3 million defending four officials who face bankruptcy-related charges. One official, former budget director Ronald S. Rubino, has received $500,000 in defense funds from the county.

“We don’t want to get into the business of saying whether [the board] should pay defense funds or give money to the veterans office,” Manes said. “It doesn’t have to be an either-or situation. It’s possible to fund the office without taking money away from other people.”

The office has been serving local veterans since 1928 and provides help to nearly 2,000 clients a year.

Employees help veterans and their survivors process pension and disability claims, offer referrals to VA hospitals and connect them with the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.

Douglas Boeckler, supervisor of the veterans claims section, said the 1995 cutbacks have taken their toll. “When someone is out sick or off on a project, the service to our clients suffers,” he said.

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Orange County is home to 231,000 veterans. The office helps veterans get millions of dollars a year worth of benefits and medical services, Boeckler said, and much of the money is spent in the local economy.

“It’s a very good investment,” Manes added. “The money the county spends to keep the office open is turned back many times over into the community.”

The financial uncertainty facing the veterans office was just one element of an updated budget report released Friday by county officials. The county will have a public budget workshop Tuesday from 7 to 9 p.m. at 1501 St. Andrews Place in Santa Ana.

The report contains several revisions from a preliminary 1996-97 fiscal year budget that the Board of Supervisors approved in June.

The county has included in the budget $50,000 to prepare preliminary plans and study funding options for a long-delayed South County courts building and a proposed Santa Ana headquarters building for the district attorney’s office.

The report also includes more than $100 million in new funding requests that county department heads hope the Board of Supervisors will approve during hearings later this month.

budget officials said little additional money is available to fund the requests. Property tax revenue is running slightly ahead of projections, possibly offering a small financial boost to the county. Officials are also trying to determine whether there are any additional unspent funds from the 1995-96 budget that can be carried over.