County Park Funds Need Fair Disbursement

The Orange County Board of Supervisors has $14 million in annual state park bond money. Each year, we vote to determine how these precious park funds will be allocated.

Supervisor Smith and I support an equal division of the funds among the five supervisorial districts. With each district having about 600,000 people, this will assure all county residents will benefit equally from the fund.

This is how the money was divided last fiscal year, when Supervisors Smith, Spitzer and Coad voted to provide equal park funding throughout the entire county. This established a precedent to try to equalize the extreme imbalance of parkland between North and South Orange County.

Now, however, county staff proposes to allocate all of the $14 million strictly into the county park system. Proponents say this is county money that needs to attend to deteriorating county parks. This would make sense if county parklands were distributed equally throughout Orange County.

They are not.

Wealthy coastal and southern Orange County have the bulk of county recreational acreage. Urbanized and older north county has very little.

Compare below our unbalanced system:

District	County Parks	Total Acreage
First	0	0
Second	4	1,865
Third	11	8,295
Fourth	2	191
Fifth	8	19,281

At our October 28 meeting, the Board of Supervisors deadlocked 2-2 on this issue. Supervisor Chuck Smith and I supported an equal share allocation. Placentia Mayor Scott Brady was among many speakers supporting equitable park funding. The issue will come up for a final vote when the full board meets on November 18.

Former Supervisor Cynthia Coad continues to lobby for this issue, which she championed all last year. Local elected officials such as La Habra City Councilwoman Rose Espinoza, Placentia Mayor Scott Brady, Fullerton mayor Don Bankhead and Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle have been actively supportive as well.

The staff recommendation is understandable. Their job is to maintain the existing county park system, and they want every dollar for long-delayed improvements. However, this has the effect of shortchanging North and Central Orange County, while lavishing millions in the wealthier southern and coastal communities. My Fourth District has only Clark Park and part of Craig Park. Supervisor Smith’s First District has no county parks at all.

We support dividing the funds equally, as was done last year. Each district would receive about $2.8 million, with each supervisor apportioning the funds according to the greatest need. These funds could still go to upgrade county facilities, or for city park improvements, or both.

The counter-proposal would provide barely $1 million to my Fourth District, with all of it going into Clark and Craig Parks. Smith’s First District would receive only $200,000.

By contrast, $4.2 million would be spent in the Second District, $5.4 million in the Third District, and $2.3 million in the Fifth District.

It is argued that the cities have already received their own share of the bond money, and that this $14 million should be reserved only for the county system. That system does need major maintenance and capital improvements, some delayed since before the 1994 county bankruptcy. (For the record, none of these funds are earmarked for the “Great Park” proposal, which is funded by the City of Irvine.)

However, an equitable split by district still allows each supervisor to allocate the funds to the county system. I would certainly consider the needs of both Craig and Clark Park. But I also would make the funds available to La Habra, Fullerton, Placentia, Buena Park and Anaheim for those areas not served by the county system.

It is argued that the county system serves regional needs of all county residents, that the funds should not be used for the local needs of cities.

However, city parks serve regional needs as well. Look at Hillcrest Park or Tri-City Park, all funded by north county cities. With barely 2% of county-funded park acreage in North O. C., local cities have had to fill the breech.

In addition, it is local urban neighborhood parks that get the most intense use. Playing fields, in particular, are all operated by cities and address the need for exercise at a time of growing concern about obesity.

The county parks and beaches are part of a great system providing relaxation, recreation and open space preservation. For historic and geographic reasons, however, it is a system that does not serve all county residents equally.

Those seeking an equitable allocation of the $14 million in annual park funds should write or address the Board at our November 18 meeting. There is a compromise plan afloat that would place $9 million into the county system, while still allocating $5 million equally to among the districts.

I will work for putting the funds where they belong—where the people are that need them!

O.C.: A Two Newspaper County

Some won’t subscribe to the Times because they think it’s too liberal. Others don’t take the Register because it’s too conservative. The fact is, reading both papers daily is essential for those wanting to be well informed about Orange County.

Growing up in Fullerton, we took both the Times and the Fullerton Daily News Tribune. When the Register swallowed the Tribune in 1985, I became a daily Register subscriber.

The Times and Register’s editorial tones are very different: one liberal, the other libertarian-conservative. But these viewpoints don’t color their local reporting.

The Register, for example, editorialized for accountability for the deputy sheriff’s health fund and ran a column by Supervisor Smith and I on this topic, but their news reporters have ignored the issue. It was Times reporter Jean Pasco who has done real digging in her new articles. The Register editorializes against CenterLine, but ignored the Garden Grove City Council recent unanimous opposition to the project, which received headline coverage in the Times. Working with reporters is one of the joys of my job. They are an effective voice.

Spotlight Continues on Union Health Fund

A recent analysis by the Los Angeles Times alleges that nearly $200,000 in monthly funds given to the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs is unaccounted for. This is public money sent directly to the union to provide health insurance for its members.

Is this figure accurate? Where is the money going?

An independent audit would answer this and many other questions. Unfortunately, this year’s contract was approved without such accountability. Supervisor Chuck Smith and I look for a third vote for an audit when the contract comes up again next year.

For 16 years, past contracts have required annual reports about the medical trust fund, now topping $13 million yearly. None have ever been submitted.

In other agencies, such audits are routine. The Orange County Professional Firefighters Association provides an annual audit to the OC Fire Authority Board, detailing every expenditure of its medical fund. This year’s report runs 35 pages, was prepared by an independent accounting firm and is available for public review.

County taxpayers should expect the same for all other such medical trust funds.