COUNTY OFFERS SPENDING PLAN; ADDING JOBS, BREAKING OFF USE OF TEMPORARY FUNDING PROPOSED.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

Hiring more than 2,000 new employees and cutting reliance on temporary funding topped the Los Angeles County chief administrative officer's wish list for the 1998-99 budget, the first to be presented without a deficit in eight years.

CAO David Janssen said it will cost about $150 million a year to hire the new workers but the cost will be offset largely by new state and federal revenue.

The state, meanwhile, is expected to take over paying court employees, allowing the county to cut 5,000 workers from its payroll.

Janssen said the $13.2 billion spending proposal is 5.3 percent, or $600 million, larger than the current $12.6 billion budget and is balanced thanks in part to $500 million in additional state funds, $64 million in new federal funds, $90 million in savings from unloading the court workers and $80 million in property tax and revenue growth.

``I'm very optimistic this year,'' Janssen said of the budget, the first since 1990 to be presented to the Board of Supervisors in balance.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky has not yet decided whether to support hiring 2,000 more workers but noted many are needed to fix major staffing shortages in the Mental Health and Probation departments, and to get the county's new welfare-to-work program up and running.

``It may be he's asking for too much, it may not be,'' Yaroslavsky said. The supervisor noted that the county has cut thousands of jobs in recent years to cover budget deficits and that services to county residents have suffered as a result.

``Our service delivery is out of balance. There are a larger number of people relying on our services than we have the ability to provide to them,'' Yaroslavsky said.

Last year, Janssen labeled the county's fiscal condition as ``precarious,'' saying the county had not yet recovered from its brush with insolvency in the summer of 1995. Just three years ago, the supervisors were faced with a $1.2 billion budget deficit, and the prospect of laying off thousands of workers and closing down the county's largest hospital.

Janssen said the efforts by the supervisors and county staff to rein in spending, the improved economy and increased federal and state funding have dramatically improved the county's fiscal health.

However, he warned that the supervisors again would face making ``dire cuts'' after the turn of the century if they do not plan for a way to replace $666 million in temporary funds.

``I want people to continue to look into the future and not just look at where we are now,'' Janssen said.

The Board of Supervisors dug itself out of that mess back in 1995 in part by relying on temporary funding.

The 1998-99 budget still includes $348 million of excess earnings from the county's retirement investment fund, which has made a killing on Wall Street in recent years, and $318 million being saved thanks to a decision by the federal government to temporarily waive some health services fees.

But Janssen cautioned that both these sources of funding will dry up within three to four years, leaving a gaping hole in the county's budget.

``We have two long-term financial problems we have to deal with,'' Janssen said.

Public hearings on the proposed budget will begin May 13. The supervisors are slated to begin budget deliberations June 22.

The most significant increases in the budget were largely offset by federal and state funding or grants:

$424.9 million in federal and state funds to support the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) welfare-to-work program in the Department of Public Social Services.

$59.9 million for the Mental Health Department related to its involvement in CalWORKs and expansion of services at MacLaren Children's Center.

$30 million to pay retroactive benefits to welfare recipients as part of a legal settlement.

$24 million for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to improve services to mentally ill people doing time in county jail. Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice termed the treatment of mentally ill county inmates as ``unconstitutional.''

$15.4 million for the Probation Department for early intervention programs.

$2.5 million for the District Attorney's Office to hire 42 people to help counter welfare fraud.

Official makes pitch for 2,000 employees

Los Angeles County no longer has to pay 5,138 court employees because the state of California is picking up the tab. But Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen has proposed hiring more than 2,000 new employees at a cost of about $150million, using mostly new state and federal revenues. The new position requests include:

Chief administrative officer: Add two staffers in emergency-preparedness program and three budget analysts.

Alternate public defender: Add two deputy public defenders.

Auditor-controller: 12 new positions.

Beaches and harbors: 15 new positions.

Children and family services: 26 new positions.

Community and senior services: 65 new positions.

Coroner: Nine new pathology and support positions.

County counsel: Six new positions.

District attorney: 82 new positions, including 40 in family support.

Internal services: 11 new positions.

Mental health: 235 new positions, including 89 for restructuring of troubled MacLaren Children's Center, 24 for various children's services, 10 for children's probation services, eight for assessment of students referred by school districts, 47 for adult community-based programs and 56 positions for adult-case management and vocational rehabilitation programs.

Parks and recreation: Add 64 positions.

Probation: Add 179 positions.

Public defender: 36 new positions.

Public social services: 805 new positions.

Sheriff's: 401 new positions, including 185 to be paid for by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

CAPTION(S):

Box

Box: Official makes pitch for 2,000 employees (See Text)