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the officials involved. Last July, a Superior Court judge where the county buildings are." (Los Angeles County's
threw out the general plan and told the county to start Facilities Department is just concluding the first-ever in-
over. ventory of approximately 4,000 county-owned structures.)
The Public Commission believes these and other frail- County officials are quick to point out that a great deal
ties of the existing county government are the product of of the 900 percent increase in expenditures since 1950 has
faulty structure. It proposes an elected county mayor to gone for social welfare programs mandated by the state
take over management of the fifty-plus county depart- and federal governments. And some believe the
ments, an expanded board of supervisors to be known as separationists are trying to escape helping the poor, el-
the County Legislature, an independent auditor- derly and disabled of the urban center. The percentage of
controller appointed for a 10-year term, and other innova- public assistance recipients in either Canyon County or
tions. South Bay County would be considerably smaller than the
While the Canyon separationists complain of being percentage in the existing county, where one out of eight
alienated from Los Angeles, those of San Gabriel concen- residents is either on relief or on the county payroll
trate their fire on the cost and inefficiency of the existing (742,000 on welfare plus 84,000 county employees). But
county government. Mayor Gilbertson points to the Los Connie Worden, co-chairperson of the Canyon County
Angeles County general tax rate - the highest of any Formation Committee, says the move is not a continua-
California county in 1975 - as reason enough to try some- tion of the "white flight" to shed social responsibility. "If I
thing smaller. He refers to a University of Southern thought we were hurting Los Angeles County's ability to
California study which indicates that services don't get deal with its social problems I'd drop the project right now.
any cheaper as government gets bigger. (The 1970 study I don't think the loss of our Ii ttle corner is going to affect
of metropolitan governments concludes that the cost per the rest of the county one way or another. I do think that
capita never levels off once you pass a governmental unit enough breaking away could leave behind a ghetto
size of 100,000.) county, and we would not want to be responsible for doing
Los Angeles County's experience seems to support the that."
finding. In the past 25 years, the county's population has
grown less than 70 percent but the number of employees The outlook
has increased by more than 200 percent (now numbering Temple City's Mayor Gilbertson points out that the pro-
more than 84,000, about the size of the city of Burbank). posed San Gabriel County would have its share of Blacks
And the annual cost of running the county has gone up and Spanish-speaking poor. "Youjust can't run away from
more than 900 percent, with total expenditures in 1975 of the need to care for the disadvantaged," he says. "For one
more than $3 billion. CAO Hufford warns, however, that if thing the rest of the county would not allow it. If they did,
the smaller counties try to do the things Los Angeles it'd be the wrong thing to do." Nevertheless the rash of
County does for its citizens, the cost will be exorbitant. His county formation campaigns raises the spectre of an
analysis of the proposed Canyon County predicts that "in under-financed , overburdened Los Angeles County,
order for the new county to continue to provide services at struggling to handle its social pressures with a drastically
the level now provided, a real property tax of $8.95 per reduced tax base. That prospect, coupled with the job con-
$100 ... would have to be levied, compared to the 1974-75 cerns of militant county employees, would seem to di-
Los Angeles County tax rate of $4.68." minish the new counties' chances of getting the majorities
they need.
Where are the buildings? But Connie Worden thinks Canyon County has a good
"So we'll do without a few things," he says. "Maybe we'll chance, partly because of its remoteness. "I felt we'd won,"
get by without a $14 million crime computer that doesn't she said, "when the clerk at the Registrar of Voters' office
work (a reference to L.A. County's ill-fated Oracle project). looked over our petitions and asked 'where in the heck is
Maybe we won't need a whole big department to find out Saugus?'" - ~

Selected government reports State Legislatures, bimonthly publication of National
Conference of State Legislatures (formerly titled
State Legislatures Today) , 1405 Curtis St., Den-
State Planning Issues; Council of State Planning 92037 . 143 pp. Who is doing what in the planning, ver, Colo. 80202. (Annual subscription $10)
Agencies in cooperation with the Council of State regulation .and management of the coast. June-July 1975 issue includes articles on Califor-
Governments and the College of Business and nia's farm-labor law, medical malpractice, fair-
Economics, University of Kentucky. Articles on trade laws, pros and cons of nuclear safety, gun
state planning and governmental topics, including Summary, Review and Analysis of California Coastal control, and land-use.
one by California Assemblyman Eugene T. Gualco . Commission Government, Powers and Funding to
62 pp . Available from the Council, Iron Works Carry Out the Coastal Plan; California Council for Governments of the United States and of California;
Pike, Lexington , Ky. 40511. Environmental and Economic Balance, 215 Market fourth edition, by John A. de la Haye, John P.
Street, Suite 930, San Francisco 94105. 33 pp. , Carney, Helmut Bader, and Edgar F. Love of El
State Involvement in the California Coastal Zone: A "' Qctober 1975. Identifies potential conflicts and Camino College. Spring 1976. (400 pp. $5.95)
Topical Index to Agency Responsibility; Institute possible omissions in the Coastal Plan , and high- Wm . C. Brown Company Publishers, 2460 Kerper
of Marine Resources, P.O. Box 1529, La Jolla lights key policy decisions. Blvd., Dubuque, la. 52001.

APRIL 1976 119