CEO Increases Funds for Juvenile Hall

County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier’s final budget proposal contains more than $1 million in additional funds to reduce overcrowding at Orange County Juvenile Hall and another $4 million to meet other “critical” service needs.

Officials will outline the changes during three days of public hearings next week on the county’s $3.6-billion budget, which the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote on in September.

If the board approves the budget, the Probation Department would use its additional allocation to fund 112 detention beds for youth offenders. The money would be used to operate 48 juvenile beds at the old Santa Ana Jail and transfer inmates who will be tried as adults from Juvenile Hall to the new Santa Ana Jail.

The funding would ease overcrowding at Juvenile Hall, which was designed for 374 inmates but routinely houses more than 500.

“It won’t solve all the problems, but it’s significant support,” said John Robinson, chief deputy probation officer for special services. “We certainly appreciate the support in this difficult budget season.”

The addition of Juvenile Hall beds was among the dozens of “critical” budget augmentations that department managers submitted last month.

Mittermeier’s proposal also calls for the county to set aside $14.8 million toward the early repayment of the $800 million in bonds the county sold in June as part of its bankruptcy recovery effort.

Supervisors have pushed for the early repayment a way of cutting the hefty interest the county will have to pay over the next three decades.

“I’m pleased. I’d like to see more, but it is a good start,” said Supervisor Don Saltarelli. “Every time we put away $15 [million] or $20 million, that’s money we won’t have to pay interest on for 30 years. It’s a significant amount of money.”

The final budget plan would fund all the “critical” augmentations, which include a new position in the district attorney’s domestic violence program and more mental health beds.

The county would spend $5.5 million on the requests, many of which are funded with state and federal money.

The county’s portion would come from unspent funds from the 1995-96 budget and from higher-than-expected tax revenue.

In addition, the supervisors would have another $1.5 million to put toward other budget requests of their choice. Several supervisors said they want to use some of that money to keep the county veteran’s services office open.

Under the preliminary budget, the office was scheduled to close at the end of September.