Power Plant Raises Cost of Plan to Shut State Hospital

California taxpayers are on the hook for tens of millions of dollars if Gov. Pete Wilson’s plan to close Camarillo State Hospital is approved by the state Legislature later this year.

Under a long-term lease between the state and a private power company, California is liable for between $45 million and $60 million in energy it has promised to buy over the next two decades.

Though that amount is significantly less than the $95 million a year the state pays to operate the 60-year-old hospital, some local officials believe it helps make the facility too expensive to close.

“Something’s going to happen there, because there are a lot of encumbrances on that property,� Camarillo Councilman Mike Morgan said. “It looks like it’s coming down to [converting it to] a maximum-security facility.�

Settling the power plant contract would account for just several costs involved with shutting down the hospital, including relocating patients.

Others predict that the state will proceed with closure plans and simply write off the cost of abandoning a cogeneration plant that supplies power to the hospital.

“They’ll just factor that in as another cost of doing business,� said Maureen Lynch, a local representative for the California State Employees Assn. “It’s a onetime hit for them.�

Officials in Wilson’s office referred questions to Dennis Amundson, the state director of developmental services, which administers Camarillo State. Amundson was noncommittal, but said the facility is being offered to other state agencies.

“Nobody’s expecting us to walk away and let it grow weeds,� he said. “I’m sure we’ll find some use for that facility. Hopefully, it will be something that will generate the kind of jobs that will keep the people who are already there employed.

“Everybody’s first choice is to find a use for it where we don’t have to eat the cost of the cogeneration plant,� Amundson said. But “if we don’t find one, we’ll walk away from it.�

State administrators are now preparing a report--due by April 1--that will detail the proposed closure but will make no recommendations for the hospital’s future.

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The cogeneration plant at Camarillo State was designed to insulate the state from fluctuating energy costs. A private company built the power plant and the state agreed to purchase its steam and electricity.

“They bear a greater portion of the risk, and they become the power and steam producer,� said Douglas Yee, maintenance supervisor for the state Department of Developmental Services, which treats about 500 patients at Camarillo State.

Operating Leasing Services Corp., a subsidiary of Prudential Insurance Co. and Energy Initiatives Inc., spent $38 million to build the Camarillo plant, which went online in 1988 with a 30-year contract to sell energy to the state.

Company officials said they are worried about Wilson’s announcement that he plans to abandon Camarillo State. But they said they have held no discussions with state leaders about the recommendation to shut down the hospital.

“All of us have some concerns, but I think we’re contractually protected,� said Bob Wright, California supervisor for Operating Leasing Services.

“We were a little bit surprised by the recommendation for closure,� Wright said. “But we were encouraged by the local community’s plan to look at it for a university site or another use.�

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Despite their plan to move retarded patients to group homes and other facilities, state officials say they have not decided whether to pay off the contract or find another use for the property to keep the plant running.

“If the hospital is de-funded, [what happens to the cogeneration plant] would have to be speculation,� Yee said. “We would look for high and low buyouts, or there would be litigation.

“There’s also the possibility that Camarillo may bring in other parties to occupy the grounds,� Yee said. “That’s the wild card here. We do not have a specific course plotted.�

But the president of the local chapter of the California Assn. of Psychiatric Technicians, which represents about 600 Camarillo State workers, does not believe that.

Brian Bowley said he thinks the state is positioning itself to fill the hospital with more mentally ill criminals--including suspects unable to assist in their own defense or inmates found not guilty by reason of insanity.

When a developmental center in Stockton was slated for closure, Bowley said, there were no discussions about finding other state uses for the property. In Camarillo State’s case, by contrast, top state officials have come to Ventura County to discuss options with politicians and community leaders.

“If the community is receptive to it, they will definitely make this a forensic facility� for patients ordered by judges into state institutions, Bowley said.

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State mental health Director Stephen Mayberg has said for weeks that he needs more room for the 50% increase in mentally ill criminals expected across the state over the next five years. He said Camarillo State could house those patients if the community backs such a plan.

But local elected officials are split on whether to welcome hundreds of new psychotic criminals to the community to save the hospital from closing.

County Supervisor John K. Flynn said he would ask the Board of Supervisors on Feb. 13 to support plans to keep the hospital open by bringing in court-ordered patients.