Gauging Budget’s Impact : Officials Seek to Learn What It Means for O.C.

Orange County welfare administrator Bob Griffith can see it now: Once the word hits the streets that Gov. Pete Wilson wants to tie welfare payments for new residents to the rates in their old states, everyone will be claiming they immigrated from Alaska.

The trick is, Alaska pays the highest welfare rates in the country. California ranks fourth.

And that, said Griffith, chief deputy director of the county’s Social Service Agency, could force the county to verify where new welfare recipients really come from. That would mean more paperwork. And more time. And perhaps “dozens” more caseworkers, Griffith said Friday.

“It would be a lot of work,” he said.

Such headaches--migraines of the fiscal, administrative and political variety--were common Friday as local officials crunched the numbers and read the fine print in Wilson’s budget plan in the daunting task of trying to figure out how it affects Orange County.

Some of the answers about the county’s fiscal picture may come next Tuesday when new Board of Supervisors Chairman Roger R. Stanton gives the supervisors his plans and hopes for the coming year in his “state of the county” address. With the county facing a potential shortfall of more than $60 million for this fiscal year, the budget crunch promises to mark a major theme in that address.

Then, county supervisors will begin in earnest what promises to be months of bruising talks, requiring potentially tough political decisions over what programs to cut back or eliminate, who may be laid off and how to balance the county budget.

Stanton said Friday that he is considering a plan to leave unfilled hundreds of county positions that have become vacant during a hiring freeze, potentially saving millions of dollars. He declined further comment, saying his full plans would come Tuesday.

In the meantime, gauging the impact of Wilson’s budget--released Thursday--will be a central focus for many local officials.

“Everyone is scurrying to find out what it really means,” said Karen Davis, senior manager in the County Administrative Office’s budget section. “We’re all taking the budget home over the weekend and looking at it. We’re going to grind through it and see what areas would have a potential impact on the county and report back to the supervisors.”

County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider said he is sending his top budget analyst, Ronald S. Rubino, to Sacramento next week to meet with officials from other counties about the governor’s budget. “This stuff is so complicated, it takes lots of people to figure it out,” he said.

What is known so far is that Wilson’s budget--sure to be opposed in large part by Democrats in the Legislature--would strip Orange County of about $14 million for local courts, mark significant increases in college tuitions and fees for water, sanitation and other user districts, and slash funding by 10% under Aid for Families With Dependent Children.

The AFDC program has become a growing source of support for Orange County’s poor, with local ranks swelling in the past year by 25% to 87,000--two-thirds of that total composed of children. At Share Our Selves in Costa Mesa, which provides food, financial aid and medical service for the local indigent, news of Wilson’s plans hit hard.

“Times are getting harder and harder all the time,” said Richard Smith, 37, who has a family of five and no job. The family had to leave their Anaheim apartment recently for lack of money and has been living off and on in local motels.

With his wife, 2-year-old daughter and 7-month-old twin daughters, Smith waited for five hours Friday at SOS to get $60 and three days’ worth of food.

He said he was laid off as an air-conditioning technician last year when he hurt his back and for the past three months has been receiving $880 a month from the government. With a proposed 10% cut in payments, that wouldn’t be enough, he said.

“I’m dependent on welfare to get me through until I can find another job,” he said. The cuts “are going to make a big difference. . . . Before you know it, you don’t have money for diapers, for baby formula, for nothing. I’m going to be out on the street and my three little girls will freeze to death,” he said.

Barbara Considine, executive director of SOS, said of the budget proposals: “It seems to happen every year, but this year it seems more severe--especially when taken in the larger context of the failing economy. The whole situation is bleaker.”

Wilson’s plan is “shortsighted,” Considine said. “He should be going to the root causes of what puts people on welfare to begin with--lack of affordable housing and child care.

“You can have this nice minimum-wage job, but it’s not going to do you much good when housing starts at $700 in Orange County, and a doctor’s visit is $100,” she said. “And with the cost of child care, it’s not even worth it to go to work.”

The budget plan would be felt sharply elsewhere in Orange County as well.

* Wilson wants to take some $347 million in property tax revenues now given to special districts for water, sanitation and other local services, and give the money to the schools. That would affect user fees throughout the county.

For instance, about 75,000 residents in parts of Westminster, Garden Grove and nearby areas who now pay $5 a month per unit for sewage service could see a jump of as much as 300% in fees, said Donald Snavely, general manager of the Midway Cities Sanitation District.

The Midway district now relies on state funds for 44% of its budget. If Wilson’s plan goes into effect, Snavely said, “we’re looking at a tremendous increase in user fees.”

* The county may have to find money on its own to fund a 4% guaranteed raise for several thousand employees. And about 700 employees who work in state facilities throughout Orange County--aat colleges, DMV offices, state hospitals and elsewhere--are facing salary cuts of 5% and increases in their share of medical bills.

“We’re in a very, very difficult position because of this budget,” said Pat McConahay, spokeswoman for the California State Employees Assn. in Sacramento. “The governor has taken a stab at us again, and it looks like we’re in for another fight.”

* State park officials in Orange County are considering shortening hours of operation at some local parks.

“I don’t enjoy it,” said Jack Roggenbuck, district superintendent for the Orange Coast district of the state park system. “I don’t like doing it, but we have to look (to cut costs) somewhere.”

Even among all the bleak news from Sacramento, some praised aspects of Wilson’s plan.

Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder said she was happy to see the governor pledging funds for preventive medical measures for young children.

“I was impressed because he was keeping faith with his direction a year ago. His efforts are going to be directed in a preventive way,” she said. “He’s really ensuring the future as far as I’m concerned.”

Times staff writer Jim Newton contributed to this report.

Red Ink

While the budget plan proposed this week by Gov. Pete Wilson included millions of dollars in new funding for several capital works projects in Orange County, more prominent was the money that wasn’t there. The budget plan would: Cut government checks by an average of 10% for the county’s burgeoning welfare community, bringing the monthly allotment for a single mother of two down to $597. Force state parks officials to consider shorter hours of operation in Huntington Beach, San Clemente and elsewhere in the county because of funding shortfalls. Raise fees sharply for local water, sanitary and other special service districts because of the elimination of state property tax revenues for such services. Eliminate about $14 million in state funding for Orange County courts, forcing county government to make up the difference. Raise tuition 40% at Cal State Fullerton and 24% at UC Irvine.

State Parks May See Cutbacks

State park officials in Orange County say that cuts proposed this week in Gov. Wilson’s budget plan are forcing them to consider shortening some park operations by perhaps several hours a day. Following are current hours of operation at the five state parks in Orange County.

State Facility: Bolsa Chica State Beach

Schedule: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., till midnight during summer.

State Facility: Chino Hills State Park

Schedule: 8 a.m. to dusk year-round.

State Facility: Crystal Cove State Park

Schedule: Sunrise to sunset year-round.

State Facility:Huntington State Beach

Schedule: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., till midnight during summer.

State Facility: San Clemente State Beach

Schedule: 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. year-round.