L.A. County to consider $23 billion budget

Los Angeles County officials are scheduled to begin budget deliberations this morning, even as state leaders are debating massive cuts that could throw the proposed budget into disarray. The $22.8-billion budget proposed for the coming fiscal year cuts at least $415 million from the current budget, using reserves to offset dwindling tax revenue.

It eliminates more than 1,600 mostly vacant positions and extends a hiring freeze announced in February. County leaders have said the budget will not include layoffs, but it is unclear what effect dwindling revenues and state cuts might have on the county workforce.

County revenues are down across the board, and the budget proposed earlier this year does not provide for that shortfall or $236.3 million in state budget cuts expected in the next fiscal year.

Service Employees International Union, Local 721, which represents about 55,000 county workers -- about half the county workforce -- is set to negotiate new contracts next month.

As part of this morning’s budget deliberations, county leaders plan to consider a proposal to save $21.5 million by overhauling general relief, county-funded welfare for singles. Unlike CalWorks, the state welfare program for children and families, general relief is county-funded and is expected to cost $191 million this year, about $10 million more than expected. The program provides $221 a month in cash aid to 77,000 off the county’s neediest residents. The rolls are expected to reach 90,000 next year, the highest in a decade, due to the economic downturn.

This morning, the county’s chief executive will propose spending $7.2 million to streamline the program by adding staff and expanding new programs that help recipients get jobs, housing or more lucrative federal disability assistance. A recent county-commissioned study by welfare experts at the University of Pennsylvania found a third of general-relief recipients had a disability that would likely qualify them for federal assistance.

Yet they remained on county-funded welfare, using twice the county medical, jail and other services, and costing the county 67% more than the average welfare recipient. The county could save $12 million by shifting just 1,000 of those disabled recipients from general relief to federal assistance, the study found.

Providing general-relief recipients with $500 monthly rent subsidies would save the county $4 million in jail, medical and other costs, another recent county study found.

"And it’s not only about savings," said Miguel Santana, a deputy to the county’s chief executive. "Getting someone federal assistance so they can get services or getting them a job is a lot better than just giving them a check. The question is, do we invest now and provide a blueprint for general relief in the future?"

Santana’s office developed the proposal after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threatened to cut CalWorks, a move that would have sent 380,000 welfare recipients onto county rolls at a cost of $400 million. But last week, a legislative budget committee balked at the governor’s plan, taking the heat off the county, at least temporarily.

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, whose district is home to a third of the county’s general-relief recipients, said he supports overhauling the program as soon as possible so that the savings can be spent on improved services.

"If we continue in the direction we’re currently moving, rather than a savings, we’ll have more of a budget problem," Ridley-Thomas said. "We just have to be smart about providing these services."

Supervisors Don Knabe, who chairs the board, said he will likely ask that the proposal be postponed until next month or September, given ongoing state budget negotiations. But he said county-funded welfare must be improved.

“You can’t bury it at this point,” Knabe said. "You need to deal with the systemic issues: How do we remove people from the county system, find them housing and employ them.”

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske

Comments

[Tom]

I am glad that he pulled out, that would save him from a humiliating defeat. I voted for Villaraigosa and would never vote for him again. The quality of life for a lot of angelenos has declined since he took office. Less services in the city. Higher rents higher taxes. No teeth in code compliance. My vote for Gov. will be Gavin Newsome he is pretty progressive.

[J B]

The State government is systemically broken. We need to abandon this insane initiative process that has run the State into a ditch. Wealthy special interest groups sponsor these proposals and the result has been chaos. Revoke Prop 13. You cannot run a government without a predicable funding stream. This is no way to run the 7th largest economy in the world! Change the 2/3rd majority rule needed to pass a budget. Raise taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, and legalize and tax marijuana. To try and balance the budget on the backs of the poor and the sick is just wrong. And stop electing movie stars to public office!

[Wise guy]

The study on GR recipients was done by the County's Research and Evaluation Branch - not the University of Pennsylvania.

[Greg]

Its time to bring the marijuana trade from out of the shadows. you want to make several billion dollars? And save several billion more in policie and prisons? Legalize and Tax the one substance thats safter then Alcohol, Tobacco, and heck even asprin. TIme to stop putting innocent people behind bars.

[Mitch]

Legalizing marijuana is not the solution, but it is a big part of the solution.