COUNTY REQUIRES MORE TAX REVENUE.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

Los Angeles County officials will make a bid to receive a larger share of property tax revenues on Monday when they present a budget wish list to Southern California legislators in Sacramento.

Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen said county officials have given up on getting back $500 million in property tax revenues diverted to schools in the early 1990s.

A new strategy is to ask state legislators to give them a cut of property tax growth instead, which could mean $20 million in additional funding.

County officials coped with the $500 million loss by relying on temporary funds, specifically $300 million in excess earnings from the county's retirement fund and $200 million in federal funds that were given to help bail the Department of Health Services out of its budget shortfall.

But both sources of funding are expected to run dry in three to four years, leaving the county to overcome a structural deficit of $500 million.

Janssen and Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, who will lead the county group in Sacramento, said relations with the state have improved because the economy is better.

``Everyone gets along when there is money,'' Burke said. ``Everyone is fighting when there are only pennies.''

Other issues to be discussed:

Why some legislators have threatened to block financing for the rebuilding of County-USC Medical Center, arguing there should be 750 beds instead of the 600 approved by supervisors in December.

More cuts in the administrative fees the state charges county hospitals.

Proposed changes in MediCal rules to allow children under 19 to receive benefits on a temporary basis until their eligibility is made official.

A request for the state to match the federal government's funding for welfare-to-work programs.

Janssen said county officials will thank legislators for their efforts in the current fiscal year, including $90 million to fund local court operations, a $34 million reduction in administrative fees paid by county hospitals to the state, $50 million in funds for probation camps and $13 million to get the county's welfare reform program started.

Janssen said the county is less desperate than it has been in recent years because of the improved economy and additional state funding.

``We always go up and whine and cry, so it's a different situation this year,'' Janssen said.