BILL PUSHES SPLIT OF L.A. COUNTY : RUNNER CITES FLOURISHING POPULATION.

Byline: Amy Collins and Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writers

Taking the secession debate one step further, freshman Assemblyman George Runner has proposed a bill that would ease the way for breaking up not just the city of Los Angeles, but the county.

The Lancaster Republican said the burgeoning population of Los Angeles County - approaching 10 million - led him to write a bill to create a board that would examine the fiscal effects of a breakup.

``Can you have accountable local government with those kinds of numbers?'' Runner said Thursday. ``That's the issue that needs to be looked at.''

Santa Clarita Councilman Carl Boyer, who lobbied for Santa Clarita Valley's own county in the 1970s, said he believes it's time to break up Los Angeles County.

``I like the idea of looking at how to make the largest county in the world something more of a local government,'' Boyer said.

Runner's bill, AB 303, would allow two or more local jurisdictions to fund and form the Los Angeles County Division Authority. The panel would determine if a breakup would result in better fiscal health and improved services.

But Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, said he thinks the bill is misguided.

``I think we are at the beginning of a revolution on how government is going to operate,'' Hertzberg said. ``The momentum is moving toward larger regional government.''

Hertzberg and Runner are members of the Assembly's Local Government Committee, which will hear the bill in late April.

Hertzberg said the trend in government has been to create large, single-issue bodies - such as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the South Coast Air Quality Management District - to make regional decisions and allow smaller jurisdictions to deal with local issues such as land use and planning policies.

Santa Clarita Councilwoman Jill Klajic, who helped fight the successful battle for cityhood 10 years ago, said she'd like to see north Los Angeles County break away - putting the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys under their own cozy roof. It's an area the county predicts will have a population of at least 1.2 million by 2020.

Klajic said she backs secession from Los Angeles County for the same reasons many San Fernando Valley residents want to leave the city of Los Angeles.

``It's all the same thing,'' she said. ``You have just too big of a monster. It just gets too big . . . and people just feel totally disenfranchised from the government when it gets that large.''

Supervisor Michael Antonovich, who represents the north county, didn't return phone calls.

Boyer said he thinks it would be feasible to break up the county if it splits into five or so pieces in one election. He said Santa Monica, areas of the San Gabriel Valley and portions of the south county might be interested in parting from Los Angeles County.

But Santa Clarita Councilwoman Jo Anne Darcy, who works as the field representative for Antonovich, warned that a breakup would have many repercussions economically and could disrupt regional agreements on transportation issues.

``There's just a number of things that should be considered here,'' Darcy said.

Greg Matranga, Runner's district director, pointed out that both the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys have been strong Antonovich supporters at election time. ``This is not a reflection on Mike Antonovich. It's about the other four supervisors,'' Matranga said.

As an example, he pointed to sludge dumping in Antelope Valley that the supervisors supported against Antonovich's wishes. ``This bill is one way for us to protect ourselves and provide local control,'' Matranga said.

Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford expressed support for Runner. ``Local control is the overall appeal,'' he said. ``We are confident we could establish what the county has here now and be more cost-effective.''

Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts supports the idea of giving communities an opportunity to decide whether a split is needed, but doesn't necessarily believe such a move would be right for his city.

``We derive a lot of benefit from Los Angeles County - the sheriff's's station and the library, for example,'' Roberts said. ``I will support George's bill. After that I'll look and watch.''

Boyer said he expects that the county breakup will take at least five years of study before it could be a reality.

``It's a very lengthy process - as it should be with something this important,'' Runner said.