CUTBACKS JUST KEEP MOUNTING LIBRARIES MAY CLOSE, FOSTER-CARE TAB IS DUE.

Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer

Los Angeles County library officials said Friday that looming budget cuts could force them to lay off more than 400 workers, close 16 libraries and a bookmobile, and slash hours by more than one-third at other libraries across the county.

In an unrelated development, county officials said Friday that they will lose millions of dollars because of a court ruling requiring retroactive payments to people who served as foster parents to their grandchildren or other young relatives.

The two announcements reflect the increasing frustration of local officials who learned earlier this month that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget would lower county revenues by nearly $460 million, forcing the county to lay off 3,900 workers, close 19 juvenile probation camps, numerous parks and recreational programs and further shorten the time that inmates spend in county jail.

County Librarian Margaret Donnellan Todd said her department would lose $9.5 million in revenues if the county suffers the predicted cuts. She said it would have a significant long-term impact on the system's ability to provide library services to 3.5 million residents at 84 libraries.

``Even during the Great Depression, library services continued uninterrupted,'' Todd said. ``The curtailment scenario faced by the county libraries will not only disrupt service for current users but will cripple the libraries for the foreseeable future.''

Officials have not decided which branch libraries would be closed. Most of the remaining libraries will operate only three or four days a week, and story times for children will be eliminated or curtailed.

``At the remaining open libraries, there will be longer lines for all services,'' Todd said. ``Children and adults will not be able to find work space due to the increased demand for available seating.''

Meanwhile, in the foster-payments case, a federal judge ruled that the state and counties must reimburse grandparents and other relatives who were denied foster-care payments since December 1997.

The ruling applies to 18,000 foster children statewide who were removed from their parents' custody and placed primarily with grandparents who were not paid to care for the children.

Counties did not pay the relatives because of a federal interpretation of a law that only relative caretakers of foster children whose biological parents were on welfare prior to their placement in foster-care qualify for the payments.

Government officials estimate they will have to pay nearly $80 million as a result of the ruling.

The case began when the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles sued the state on behalf of a Los Angeles grandmother who was denied payments to care for her grandson. The grandmother, who lawyers referred to as ``Mrs. Rosales,'' was fired from her job because she had to take time off work to care for her grandson, who was hospitalized three times in six months.

``The reality is that grandmothers will take care of these kids,'' Legal Aid Foundation lawyer Margerie Shedy said. ``Knowing that if they can place these kids with grandma they don't have to pay benefits, they do. I'm so happy that grandmothers will get what they need to finally take care of these kids.''

Troy Anderson, [phone]

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com