2 New Supervisors to Look for Fat in Budget : Government: Vicky Howard and Maria VanderKolk, who take office Monday, may make the board more fiscally conservative.

When Vicky Howard and Maria VanderKolk join the Ventura County Board of Supervisors this week, they will bring with them values that could make the powerful board more fiscally conservative while reinforcing its concern about construction projects in the greenbelts that separate the county’s 10 cities.

Howard, who replaces retiring James Dougherty in the 4th District, and VanderKolk, who upset Madge L. Schaefer in the 2nd District, take office Monday, although swearing-in ceremonies are scheduled for Tuesday at their first board meeting.

They will be paid $50,236 annually as members of the five-member board, the county’s only full-time council of local government.

While the new supervisors are contrasts in age and experience, both Howard, 57, and VanderKolk, 26, said they will probe the county’s $686-million budget for fat, especially with the recent economic downturn and surge in demand for services.

County officials say the new supervisors might be tougher on social programs than Schaefer and Dougherty, who often favored services for the poor and mentally ill at budget time.

Indeed, Howard recently said her top priority as a supervisor will be to tighten the county budget and find ways to streamline government. VanderKolk said her tendencies are the same, and said a hiring freeze should be considered if bad times continue.

“But I see Vicky as being the real budget watchdog on the board,” VanderKolk said.

The biggest shift on the board is likely to be in matters of growth and environment.

Howard is viewed as a growth moderate while Dougherty generally favored new developments. VanderKolk was elected as a slow-growth candidate who opposed a large housing project at Bob Hope’s Jordan Ranch, while Schaefer expressed neutrality.

“I was an environmental candidate, and I’m not about to lose touch with that. I hope in four years people still see me the same way,” VanderKolk said last week.

“I think the board, as a whole, will be more inclined to vote the environment,” Supervisor John K. Flynn said. “People are clamoring for that. Maria was basically elected because of her environmental position.”

Howard, who co-authored Simi Valley’s slow-growth ordinance while serving on the City Council four years ago, said she and VanderKolk are not far apart on environmental issues.

“I think that’s been oversold,” she said. “Maria is very much environmentally aware, but I feel I am, too. I expect we’re pretty much aligned on a lot of issues.”

Howard, who has been active in government for 20 years compared with VanderKolk’s few months, said the idealistic VanderKolk reminds her of herself when young.

“I’m still idealistic, but I’m more pragmatic,” Howard said.

An early test of Howard’s pragmatism and of both new supervisors’ positions on growth could occur this spring, when the board is expected to consider proposals for two massive housing subdivisions in the rolling hills of the southeast county--at Jordan and Ahmanson ranches.

With a caution that came with election, VanderKolk said recently that she will listen with an open mind if the Jordan Ranch proposal, which includes 750 houses and a tournament golf course, reaches the board.

“I often wonder, if I owned Jordan Ranch and had the chance of making so many millions of dollars, would I give it away?” she said. “But this is Bob Hope, and if he only gets $20 million instead of $45 million, does he really care? I think he just wants that golf course. Golf is his religion, and he might come down to 10 homes as long as he gets his golf course.”

As a Simi Valley councilwoman, Howard has favored the annexation of Jordan Ranch by that city, a move that would enable Hope to bypass the Board of Supervisors, whose majority already has expressed grave concerns about the project.

Howard said she favors the annexation because it would prevent Blind Canyon--a nearby Hope property he has promised to park agencies as part of the Jordan deal--from being developed as a landfill.

Yet, Howard has not come out in favor of the development itself. Simi Valley is separated from the ranch site by a mountain range, which would make it difficult to provide city services, she said. She also said she would like to see it scaled back by one-third, to 500 residences.

The issue might be moot. Project backers said last month that the Jordan Ranch deal is in jeopardy because the state Coastal Commission refused to subdivide a Hope parcel in Malibu that is part of a complex land-swap package offered by the entertainer.

The proposal of the Ahmanson Ranch Co. south of Simi Valley is a different story.

“I’m going to keep an open mind about it,” said Howard, who received a $1,000 campaign contribution from the developer. The Ahmanson project is different from Jordan because it abuts the housing tracts of the western San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County.

“It’s a logical extension to the Los Angeles area,” she said.

Even VanderKolk indicated that she might be flexible on Ahmanson.

“I find Ahmanson to be a very different situation than Jordan,” she said. “I think Ahmanson goes so far beyond what our General Plan calls for . . . but they’re talking about mitigation, so we have to see what happens.”

Ahmanson officials said last fall that their proposal, which includes 3,000 houses and 238 acres of offices and stores, is being reduced in size.

While VanderKolk said growth issues are top priority on her agenda for 1991, she also said that because of her inexperience she is still discovering her political philosophy in a number of areas.

“I really want to give myself a little leeway before I start to change the world,” she said. “I’m surprising myself with how soft I really am.”

For example, she said she has started to empathize more with poor people. “I’ve never really seen the type of despair and poverty these people live under.”

Howard said her focus is on county spending.

If push came to shove, Howard said she would probably cut services instead of raising fees and taxes. She said she is probably more conservative than her predecessor, Dougherty, who was regarded as a budget watchdog.

“We’re going to have to trim any possible areas of waste,” Howard said. “I know there are some who will say there is no waste, that things are already down to the bone. But I have yet to see a budget where you cannot find some things to eliminate.”