Come to Think of It, Do We Really Need a County Government at All?

It’s not often I agree with Lincoln Club member Buck Johns but last week I think he hit the nail on the head when asked by the (television) interviewer “Why do we need a county government?”

Johns wasn’t sure that we do. I agree. As a “charter” county we could privatize work more easily. Many of the 18,000 county jobs would be eliminated. For openers, we could get rid of five supervisors and the $5 million their offices cost.

Another plus would be that employee quality and output would be more closely scrutinized for efficiency.

Supervisors who failed to supervise wouldn’t be able to come to us after the fact and say, “I have a good idea for improving how county government should be run.” Supervisor (Roger R.) Stanton’s charade, that he is the only hands-on guy in the group, is his attempt to throw the rest of the supervisors to the wolves and save his own skin.

Won’t work, Roger. It happened on your watch.

BILL HALPIN

Huntington Beach

* Supervisor William G. Steiner stated recently that “everything was on the table” in an effort to resolve the Orange County fiscal crisis. I believe there is a painless way to help raise some of the needed funds: an entertainment and sports tax on tickets starting at $15 or $20.

Anyone who can purchase a $30 or $40 ticket certainly could afford to pay an additional 1% or 2% tax, which on a $40 ticket, for example, would add a mere 40 cents or 80 cents to the price. Many events draw 5,000 to 50,000 or more people, and it would produce substantial revenues.

I would hope that special-interest groups would not prevail, and the Board of Supervisors would have the courage to consider enacting this suggestion.

WALTER GOBAS

Seal Beach

* The county’s present financial situation is a mess. Please note that I call it a situation and not a crisis. What started out as a legal maneuver by the Board of Supervisors to solve the bond crisis has turned into a public relations fiasco, going far beyond the limits of Orange County.

The earthquake that struck San Francisco did far more damage to San Francisco than the bond crisis will do to Orange County, except in public relations. My phone has not stopped ringing with calls from prospective buyers letting me know that they want to wait to see what happens before purchasing a home in Orange County, or a recruited executive weighing his decision on relocating to Orange County.

It is time to act, not in Draconian measures of massive layoffs and reduction in services which further hype the media and public’s perception and misunderstanding of the situation.

Please, please, turn this around. Ask for an emergency half-cent sales tax now.

My calculations show this tax will be enforced for approximately 34 months. If this cannot be done through the legislature, then forestall the cuts until a special election, if necessary, can be called.

ROBERT D. SELINGER

Newport Coast

* One can be a social liberal and, at the same time, be a fiscal conservative. It is a tough balancing act, for sure, given the incessant public desire for our county government to do more and more for its constituents. But as long as county agencies are willing to become dependent on the interest earned on tax monies collected, we will see a repeat of the past political pressure on the county treasurer to shade his/her investment strategies to earn “just a little bit more” each year. (“Most of All, Accountability,” Editorial Jan. 6).

Becoming a charter county, appointing the treasurer, will not remove that pressure, explicit or implicit, one little bit.

At the risk of making our county supervisors’ job more difficult, politically speaking, may I suggest that local government agencies invest collected tax revenue only in U.S. government instruments such as treasury bills. To date, these are the most safe investments in the world, albeit not the most rewarding. Try leveraging those puppies!

The impact on the county taxpayer would be: 1) the highest security we can find for our money, and 2) facing up to increased taxes should we demand that our county spend more money on us.

Heck, let’s get rid of all the political pressure on the treasurer by having all of the interest received rebated to the property taxpayer in the form of a credit toward the next year’s property tax bill.

FORREST BONNER

Huntington Beach

* The problems of Orange County should be shouldered by Orange County. We should not run to someone else to solve our problems. It seems to me that we are spending too much time trying to place blame than solving the immediate problem.

We need money now. Pay county workers 10% of their salaries in non-interest-bearing scrip, to be paid in full as soon as possible.

Impose a countywide 1% sales tax with a one-year duration. If needed for more than a year, it must be reinstated for only another year.

Do not terminate people who will have to be replaced later. This does not make economic sense. It is also a more humane approach.

When we have things under control we can then take the time and energy to determine if laws were broken and punishment is to be meted out.

FRED H. HANEY

Laguna Hills

* On Jan. 5, I read with interest the report that taxable sales in Orange County were up 3% to $7.24 billion during 1993. On that same day, after the terrible rains, I drove through a very large pothole and realized that with the bankruptcy and shortfalls, I would probably be driving around it for a long time to come.

It seems so obvious to me that while the county is increasingly healthy on most economic fronts, we are all going to suffer a loss of important educational and safety services unless some creative thinking is done. Why don’t we just pass a one-cent sales tax for the next 15 to 20 years to cover debts and re-establish the county’s financial ratings? To avoid a repeat of the foolish mistakes of some of our elected officials, an oversight committee, much like the successful Measure M oversight committee, would have to be established with the same legislation. Am I the only one who thinks this is a probable and much less painful solution?

MICHELE L. BROOKS

Santa Ana