The Los Angeles County budget is looking grim. County supervisors said today that they will not be able to handle drastic cuts expected from the state without making severe service cuts.
"Clearly this is a crisis of gargantuan proportions," said Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.
Most of the cuts proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger involve health and social services. Unless the federal government bails out the state, hundreds of thousands of people face reductions or even the loss of welfare checks, in-home care, medical services and mental health help, the supervisors said.
The proposed cuts are "terrifying to all of us," said Supervisor Gloria Molina in today's board meeting. The proposed elimination of CalWORKS alone would end state support to 165,000 families with 318,000 children in the county, she stated.
"We stand ready to assist (the state) in any way we can," Supervisor Don Knabe offered. But he echoed Molina's concerns and said cutting the welfare program would have far-reaching effects as the county would lose federal matching dollars for its programs.
While the county has already made significant cuts and bridged some programs though a "rainy day" fund, "it's a rainy day fund, but not one that can withstand a tsunami that is coming from Sacramento," said Supervisor Michael Antonovich.
Supervisors called on the state to consider a variety of options including raising taxes, term limits, part-time legislators, and a two-year budget and spend cut.
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Though the tone of the supervisors was largely one of cooperation with the governor and state legislature, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky put the blame for the deficit squarely on the state.
"This is not Washington's fault," said Yaroslavsky. "The state got itself into its own mess ... to blame Senator Feinstein or Senator Boxer or our Congressional delegation is absurd."
He said the economic recession had exacerbated the problem, but that it was caused by fiscal irresponsibility, as legislators used "gimmicks" and borrowing to avoid balancing revenues and expenses.
