Tobacco Money to Fund Jail Beds, Reduce Debt

Despite pleas to spend more of the windfall on health care, the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to use most of the $912 million Orange County will receive from the national tobacco settlement to build more jail beds and reduce debts.

Orange County is the only jurisdiction in Southern California that does not plan to use a large chunk of the tobacco settlement for health and social services programs--a fact that has been harshly criticized by those who say such services have been neglected in the years after the 1994 bankruptcy.

But the supervisors maintained Tuesday that most of the money should go to what they have long considered their two biggest priorities: cutting debt incurred during the financial collapse and reducing jail overcrowding.

The plan calls for the early repayment of debts that officials said would save the county $110 million in interest payments over 10 years.

In a concession to critics, however, supervisors instructed county officials to meet with health care advocates over the next four months to come up with a plan to spend an undetermined share of the tobacco settlement on health care. County staffers had originally proposed spending $7 million--less than 1% of the total--on such services. But supervisors deleted that amount and indicated they might be willing to spend more.