Supervisors Fear State May Cut More County Funds

A day after receiving an austere budget plan, Los Angeles County supervisors expressed concern Tuesday that Sacramento lawmakers might tap county money to help patch the state’s budget gap.

Most supervisors said the county had been doing all it could to keep down costs and should not have to face more cuts from the state.

“As with past years, the county of Los Angeles continues to face our challenges head on and approves budgets on time and within our means,” said Supervisor Don Knabe, who chairs the board. “My main concern for the county remains the unknown. We have yet to hear from the state what their budget cuts will mean to us.”

The supervisors will open public hearings in May to discuss the county’s proposed 2004-05 budget, which outlines $269 million in cuts necessary to balance revenue with rising costs.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed state budget would extract $470 million in additional cuts in county programs.

Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said the county had tried to contain workers’ compensation costs by uncovering employees who abuse the system.

But Supervisor Michael Antonovich, who thinks that the county is inadequately funding public safety, made something of a protest Tuesday by abstaining when the board voted to accept the draft budget for future discussion.

He suggested “cutting waste” and using creative money-saving measures, such as asking workers to take unpaid leave, rather than curtailing law enforcement.

Supervisor Gloria Molina said Tuesday that the county was firmly resisting union demands for higher salaries and more benefits. “I’m very proud of my colleagues,” Molina said, noting that the board had frozen salaries for more than a year and then had increased them only slightly.

The board also refused to give sheriff’s deputies a costly retirement benefit package, she said. “They think that they can threaten ... but we have held the line,” she said of the deputies.