San Diego County Finances

A state legislative analyst's report confirms what San Diego County has been complaining about for years: that the county gets less state money per person than most. County officials said such a document was long overdue, but emphatically welcomed the findings.

Gov. Pete Wilson sent attorneys and accountants scurrying Tuesday to devise a plan for dealing with a state Supreme Court decision that could affect millions of dollars in state aid to counties. The court ruled Monday that the state must reimburse counties for what they spent to provide medical care to the uninsured working poor in fiscal years 1989 to 1992. San Diego County, which challenged the state in court, says it alone is owed $22.6 million.

In southern San Diego County, on a dry bluff overlooking Mexico, workers are putting the final touches on an $80-million jail. Come Feb. 22, the East Mesa Jail will be substantially complete, ready for the Sheriff's Department to take the keys and begin checking out the electronic monitors, food services, alarm-rigged fences and the like.

In what may be a pyrrhic victory for local government, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday that counties can require the state to reimburse them for the cost of providing health care to the poor. But what could have been a bonanza for counties may wind up costing them about $900 million because of a legislative maneuver intended to discourage counties from seeking repayment.

Gov. Pete Wilson sent attorneys and accountants scurrying Tuesday to devise a plan for dealing with a state Supreme Court decision that could affect millions of dollars in state aid to counties. The court ruled Monday that the state must reimburse counties for what they spent to provide medical care to the uninsured working poor in fiscal years 1989 to 1992. San Diego County, which challenged the state in court, says it alone is owed $22.6 million.

San Diego County Rating Cut to New Low: In making the cut, Moody's Investors Service Inc. warned that the county's fiscal flexibility and credit position had weakened. Bill Kelly, San Diego County's assistant auditor-controller, said the move by Moody's will increase the county's borrowing costs. "We're disappointed in the action taken by Moody's but understand the pressure they're under in rating counties whose flexibility has been limited by actions of the state," Kelly said.

Should Treasurer Be Appointed?: The San Diego County Board of Supervisors will vote tomorrow on whether to add a March 26 ballot measure asking countywide voters to change the treasurer-tax collector job from an elected to an appointed position. Paul Boland, the current county treasurer-tax collector, has come under fire for management of the county's $3.

In a bid to prevent a further erosion of the San Diego County investment fund, county Treasurer Paul Boland told voluntary investors Wednesday that he will impose penalties of up to 11% on cities and districts that try to withdraw their funds. The $3.3-billion fund has lost about 11% in value because of rising interest rates and accelerated withdrawals during the last year.

Southern California counties, already limping along on bare-bones budgets weakened by a recessionary economy, are preparing to slash such essential services as police and criminal prosecutions to an extent not seen since Proposition 13 was passed in 1978.

The California Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a 1988 San Diego County ballot measure that levied a half-cent sales tax to build courts and jails, throwing into confusion $330 million already collected and threatening public-works projects around the state. Orange County officials were among those sent reeling by the decision. Some feared it could derail the county's transportation tax, approved by voters in 1990 and projected to deliver $3.2 billion for highway and transit projects.

San Diego County Rating Cut to New Low: In making the cut, Moody's Investors Service Inc. warned that the county's fiscal flexibility and credit position had weakened. Bill Kelly, San Diego County's assistant auditor-controller, said the move by Moody's will increase the county's borrowing costs. "We're disappointed in the action taken by Moody's but understand the pressure they're under in rating counties whose flexibility has been limited by actions of the state," Kelly said.

As Los Angeles County officials struggle to rescue their bloated, bureaucratic and financially desperate public health system, they might want to look southward. For a generation, San Diego County has made the sorts of cost-conscious moves that Los Angeles County is only now reluctantly considering in response to a crisis brought on by deep cuts in public funding.

Should Treasurer Be Appointed?: The San Diego County Board of Supervisors will vote tomorrow on whether to add a March 26 ballot measure asking countywide voters to change the treasurer-tax collector job from an elected to an appointed position. Paul Boland, the current county treasurer-tax collector, has come under fire for management of the county's $3.

In a bid to prevent a further erosion of the San Diego County investment fund, county Treasurer Paul Boland told voluntary investors Wednesday that he will impose penalties of up to 11% on cities and districts that try to withdraw their funds. The $3.3-billion fund has lost about 11% in value because of rising interest rates and accelerated withdrawals during the last year.

After the collapse of Orange County's investment fund, San Diego County Treasurer Paul Boland is facing sharp questions about the way he has managed a $3-billion government investment pool. After years of praise for squeezing out high returns for local governments and districts in his county, Boland finds himself defending high-risk investment practices that at first blush look a lot like those used by Orange County's discredited former treasurer, Robert L. Citron.

The financially strapped Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to stop paying emergency medical care bills for illegal immigrants, saying that the money it saves will go to providing health services for the county's working poor who are legal residents. Illegal immigrants will continue to receive emergency care at UC San Diego Medical Center, which has a contract with the county, but the annual cost of $5.2 million will be paid by the university.

The former head of the San Diego Convention Center authorized $150,000 worth of questionable expenses, including consulting contracts for several of his industry acquaintances from Anaheim Stadium, without proper bids or adequate documentation, San Diego auditors announced Tuesday.

Sheriff John Duffy, who opened a secret bank account for drug forfeiture money two months ago to bypass restrictions set by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, cannot touch the nearly $700,000 in estimated deposits he has accrued, a Superior Court judge ruled Friday. Judge Harrison Hollywood also ruled that the county cannot place the money in its treasury--as it had hoped--before a Nov. 27 court hearing to determine who legally controls the funds.

In a case being watched by financially strapped county governments throughout California, a state appeals court Monday ruled that the San Diego County Board of Supervisors acted illegally when it tried to kick 2,200 people off general relief. The county contended that the recipients were able-bodied and entitled to no more than three months on general relief a year because they were capable of supporting themselves by working.

In a case that may have implications statewide, a judge ruled Tuesday that financially strapped San Diego County may cut thousands of able-bodied adults from a last-resort welfare program. San Diego Superior Court Judge Judith Haller said government does not have a moral responsibility to support the needy indefinitely.