EDITORIAL : STOP QUIBBLING; LAFCO HAS A DUTY TO STUDY VALLEY SECESSION IF PETITIONS ARE SUFFICIENT.

EVER hear of a county board of supervisors canceling a scheduled election because it couldn't afford one?

Of course not. Counties have a duty they can't ignore to hold elections. The democratic process depends upon it.

The same goes when a valid recall petition is filed to remove an incumbent from office. The affected agency has a legal obligation to put the issue on the ballot regardless of how the members of its governing board feel about the matter or whether there is money in the budget to pay for an election.

That's how we feel about the petitions by Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment to have the county Local Agency Formation Commission make a formal study of Valley cityhood.

This is about self-determination. This is about democracy. This is about respecting a process set up by the state to create an orderly process for dealing with citizen requests for, among other things, detachments and annexations. That's precisely the subject of the Valley VOTE petition.

Therefore, we believe LAFCO has an obligation - if Valley VOTE complies with petition requirements - to conduct a study (the cost is estimated at $1 million or more) in a timely way, even though it claims it doesn't have the money.

Some officials have suggested that Valley VOTE pay for the study. That concept, regardless of whether study supporters could afford to pay for one, is about as undemocratic and anti-voter as a poll tax.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich proposed on Wednesday that the county and city of Los Angeles split the cost. Just how he would compel the heavily anti-secession L.A. City Council to go along is a mystery.

Besides, since LAFCO technically is a state agency and its duties are established by the state, we believe Sacramento has a moral if not legal duty to pick up most of the tab. Unfortunately, Gov. Pete Wilson last month vetoed Assemblyman Bob Hertzberg's bill that would have had the state pay for one-third of it, with the city and county picking up the rest.

Nevertheless, Antonovich is to be commended for trying to resolve the problem at the local level in an equitable manner. The time has come for other members of the board and council to get involved - or risk the possibility of having the courts decided how the study should be financed.

And let's not have any more loose talk about how unfair it would be to force city and county taxpayers to pay for a ``Valley'' study.

Valley residents pay city and county taxes, too. They would pay at least their fair share.

A nonprofit group founded last year by Valley civic leaders Bert Boeckmann and David Fleming, who both have contributed money to help finance the petition circulation, has announced plans to start raising private donations for the study once Valley VOTE finishes its signature-gathering drive.

This is commendable. But the prospect of private support in no way relieves affected public agencies of their responsibilities, financial or otherwise.

The Daily News has supported the Valley VOTE petition campaign on its editorial page and with a $60,000 donation as a means of getting the facts on whether secession would be revenue-neutral and whether a new city in the Valley would be economically feasible.