COAST CITIES — Cooperation is the key to stopping gang violence before it destroys the area, the county supervisor told local residents.

Supervisor Bill Horn of San Diego County District 5, which includes most of the northern third of the county, appeared at San Marcos City Hall to deliver his state of North County address March 20. San Marcos Mayor Jim Desmond was master of ceremonies.

Horn first addressed the state of the county’s fire-readiness, touting new equipment purchases, upgraded communications systems, updated building codes and a new Emergency Operations Center.

“The fires aren’t going to go away ... We used to think that if we spent a whole lot of money and bought a lot of engines then (the fires) would never happen again, but that’s not (the case),” Horn said. “The best we can do is to be ready to strike when they happen.”

Horn also devoted a good portion of his speech to gang violence, which he described as a plague determined to destroy North County. He also took the opportunity to praise the newly formed North County Gang Commission, which he said was a good step toward a solution.

On the topic of illegal immigration, Horn said the cost to provide government services to illegal residents was too high.

“I guarantee you that if someone put a proposition on the ballot and asked voters to approve paying $89.21 a year for services to undocumented immigrants, it would be met with a resounding ‘no,’” Horn said.

Horn also put forward a three-faceted approach to recovering those lost funds.

He recommended closer coordination between Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and local law enforcement agencies.

He also proposed tapping into the Social Security Administration’s “earning suspense file,” a $2 billion fund consisting of monies collected from persons whose social security numbers do not match the administration’s records, many of whom are illegal aliens.

Thirdly, Horn asked that the money left in the fund established in Section 1011 of the Medicare Modernization Act to cover the costs of uncompensated hospital care be passed on to local hospitals.

Horn reserved the harshest language of his speech for traffic issues.

“The state of California...has stolen more than $5 billion in the last four years from transportation. It’s amazing we can continue to build our roads when they continue to do this. They do not seem to understand how to balance the books,” he said.

Horn went on to say that because of the board of supervisors’ fiscally conservative nature, which has earned the county a good credit rating and huge operating reserves, economic troubles in Sacramento won’t affect San Diego County residents.

He also cautioned, however, that just as Sacramento wasn’t helping out San Diego, nor did San Diego intend to bail out the state.

“We are not going to use our general funds and take money away from our Boys & Girls Clubs and our libraries and everything else to solve their financial problems.”

Kara Alaimo, director of operations for the San Marcos Boy & Girls Clubs, said this was music to her ears.

“It feels really good (to hear him say that),” Alaimo said.

The county has made good on Horn’s pledge — it gave the club $10,000 last month.

Vista City Councilman Robert Campbell agreed with Horn’s view on gangs.

“This gang thing is so insidious. It just eats away,” Campbell said. The councilman believes a North County-wide solution is essential, otherwise cities will continue to chase gangs out of one town and into the next.

“You gotta get rid of the mice in the whole house,” Campbell said.

Mayor Jim Desmond expressed interest, both on stage and after the speech, in establishing a Border Patrol station in San Marcos.

“Right now ... sheriffs have to babysit (caught illegals) until someone comes from either of the two Border Patrol stations (in Temecula or Camp Pendleton). … It would be nice if we had another Border Patrol Station which was centrally located nearby.”