Supervisors Favor Hike in Social Services Budget

Health-care professionals, advocates for the poor and others pressed the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to increase funding for social services, child welfare programs and health services during the first of three public hearings on the county’s $3.6-billion budget.

In response, the supervisors tentatively agreed to hundreds of thousands of dollars in budget augmentations to improve maintenance at Orangewood Children’s Home, add positions at the Social Services Agency and restore some child protection and family services that were cut during the bankruptcy.

The board also expressed interest in increasing the birth certificate fee by $3 to fund other children’s services. The final decision will be made later.

Human services programs suffered the biggest cuts during the 18-month bankruptcy, which ended in June when the county sold $800 million in bonds and used the proceeds to pay off creditors.

But supervisors have been reluctant to substantially increase allocations to the social services and health-care agencies, saying the budget remains too tight.

Instead, County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier’s final budget plan would place $14.8 million in an account for early repayment of the $800 million in bonds. Officials said the early bond repayment would save the county millions of dollars in interest over 30 years.

But some health-care advocates and representatives from the League of Women Voters criticized the strategy for ignoring the unmet needs in social and health services.

“It doesn’t matter when you retire the debt if you are going to have people dying,” said Felix Schwartz, executive director of the Health Care Council of Orange County.

Supervisor Don Saltarelli said early bond repayment will benefit the county in the long run but that additional allocations to needed social programs should also be considered.

“It’s necessary to pay the bonds off as soon as possible,” he said. “But we also have to be very understanding of the needs out there.”