County Leaders Unite to Blast Sacramento for Budget Debacle : Government: In an unusual show of solidarity, frustrated officials call for a speedy resolution to the fiscal crisis.

Voicing growing frustration over the state budget stalemate, a group of Orange County’s top officials blasted Sacramento leaders Thursday for the state’s “embarrassing” fiscal crisis and urged a quick resolution.

“Let’s get off the dime,” Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez said at a press conference, flanked by 14 other top county officials. “Counties are being held hostage. Cities are being held hostage.”

It was an unusual public display of both frustration and solidarity by Orange County leadership, but Board of Supervisors Chairman Roger R. Stanton said it was necessary because “we recognized we could not be passive anymore as the situation deteriorates in Sacramento.”

Concern has grown so great that county officials have even begun publicly discussing higher taxes--an idea that historically has been considered anathema by Orange County’s fiscally conservative leaders.

Officials said they are worried that the state may carry out threats to cut deeply into funding for its 58 counties, then give county supervisors the power to raise local taxes without voter consent--”so we become the bad guys,” as Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder said at a board meeting several weeks ago.

County supervisors are reluctant to consider that option. “Let’s not impose that kind of irresponsible decision on us,” Stanton said Thursday.

Both Gov. Pete Wilson and Assembly Speaker Willie Brown were mentioned by name at the press conference. But generally, county officials did not place individual blame for the budget debacle, nor did they offer many specific proposals for closing the state’s multibillion-dollar budget gap.

Instead, their focus was on the debilitating effect that deep cuts could have on local governments and on the need to find a quick solution.

For instance, said county Fire Chief Larry J. Holms, current funding proposals in Sacramento “could have a devastating effect on public safety,” particularly in the areas of paramedic aid and emergency response.

Orange County faces the loss of nearly half its state funding for fire services, which would force it to consider cutting 360 positions, closing five stations and putting 29 fire engines out of service, Holms said.

In social services, proposed deep cuts in programs for disabled adults are “bordering on . . . abuse,” said Larry Leaman, director of the Social Services Agency.

And law enforcement, health care and a range of other county services could be hurt as well.

In all, officials said, Orange County could lose tens of millions of dollars in the state budget process, after having closed a $108-million budget gap of its own in a county budget plan adopted less than six weeks ago.

But even worse than the threat of future cuts, officials suggested, is the state of limbo for local governments, which are unable to move ahead with their own fiscal plans because of uncertainty at the state level.

“The worst decision is no decision,” County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider said.

Vasquez said that people around the country are talking about the warrants--or IOUs--the state is now issuing in lieu of checks and that “frankly, it’s an embarrassing situation.”

Beyond the embarrassment, county officials said, the budget delay, now five weeks into the start of the new fiscal year, is costing Orange County money. They estimated that by using its own cash reserves to cover IOUs from the state, Orange County is losing $350,000 a month in interest.

Sheriff Brad Gates said that “new ideas” are needed to solve the state’s financial problems--such as freeing local governments from spending mandates, devoting jail booking fees to jail construction funds and linking workers’ compensation benefits to workplace drug testing.

The sooner the state tackles its fiscal problems the better, Gates said, warning that “further delay is unacceptable.”