Los Angeles County Budget

The demands of providing health care to the growing number of uninsured, plus limited tax revenues, may drive Los Angeles County into bankruptcy in the event of another recession, an expert on local government predicts in a new study.

It took the Board of Supervisors just 49 minutes Monday to pass the $15-billion budget that will determine how health care, child support and law enforcement are delivered to the county's 9.6 million residents over the next fiscal year. The swiftness with which the spending plan was passed says as much about the current economic good times in Los Angeles as it does about how the nation's largest county is run.

Crime may be dropping at record rates, but Los Angeles County's taxpayers are not feeling it in their wallets. The Sheriff's Department is seeking a $120-million boost in its budget, in part to put 259 more deputies on the streets, even though calls for help are down 5% this year. Similarly, the district attorney's office wants to increase its budget by 10%, to $200 million.

Even though it does not know how to pay the expected $36-million construction bill, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday to spend more than $2 million to design two refurbished sheriff's stations. Sheriff's officials predicted that money to rebuild the cramped and crumbling 1940s-era stations in San Dimas and Lennox will be available and said they are needed to improve services to the public.

Los Angeles County continued its long march toward financial stability Monday by proposing a $14.3-billion budget for the coming year that creates 4,100 new jobs, but caps the number of indigent patients public hospitals would accept from other facilities. The latter plan immediately came under fire from Supervisor Gloria Molina, who labeled it "dangerous" cost-cutting.

Bolstered by a vigorous job market that has sent welfare cases tumbling, Los Angeles County expects to amass a windfall this year of more than $300 million in surplus funds for public aid. The county's good fortune has raised a thorny issue often faced by those blessed with an embarrassment of riches: what to do with all of the extra cash.

Thursday signaled the opening of Los Angeles County's budget season, a curious annual ritual in which a projected $87-million deficit is considered good news. "Next year's budget looks good," David Janssen, the county's chief administrative officer, said as he unveiled his regular forecast for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins in July.

Los Angeles County government got a grim reminder Tuesday of the financial problems that once pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy when its health director reported that his department has fallen up to $212 million short of its promised savings. The shortfall is more than just a budgeting headache because it indicates that overhauling the health department will be more difficult than county officials believed.

Foster parents and relatives who care for more than 8,000 abused and neglected children did not get checks due them in June, apparently in an effort by the Los Angeles County child welfare agency to improve its financial standing. County auditors are investigating whether the Department of Children and Family Services improperly tried to improve its balance at the end of the fiscal year June 30 on the backs of thousands of foster parents and children.

The woman in the conservative red suit, parked at the large adding machine behind the spotless desk in the unremarkable corner office, might not look like a high-stakes gambler. But Marilyn Brown has won big and lost even bigger in the last decade. Most of her bankrollers do not know her name, and wouldn't really understand the arcane financial game she plays. But when Brown hits the jackpot or goes bust, her backers--the residents of Los Angeles County--feel the results.