28% of Proposed County Budget to Finance Debt

Orange County supervisors tentatively approved $1.5 billion in spending Wednesday in the final day of hearings on its proposed $3.7-billion budget for the 1997-98 fiscal year that began July 1.

Supervisors will take a final vote on the spending plan Sept. 16. They passed a preliminary spending plan in June but had to wait until adoption of the state budget before final county budget approval.

Wednesday’s hearing covered the county’s $1.04-billion obligation for debt financing--28% of the total county budget--as well as $258 million for insurance reserves and miscellaneous expenses and $171 million for capital improvement projects.

Supervisors zeroed in on the county’s plans to retrofit its computer systems to accommodate dates for the new millennium and on an emergency radio communication system that eventually will cover the entire county.

Leo Crawford, the county deputy executive officer in charge of technology, said the computer retrofit will cost about $8 million, including $6 million this fiscal year and about $2 million in the 1998-99 fiscal year. The work is necessary because most computer systems weren’t designed to accommodate date keeping after Jan. 1, 2000.

The change will affect not only computer terminals but computer-run equipment like the automatic gates at county parking lots.

The countywide communication system is expected to be functional by Jan. 1, 2000, with Irvine being the first city to tap in around July 1998. The system will allow all emergency vehicles to communicate with each other on the same frequency.