Eating out in Orange County may have just gotten a bit riskier.

A fee increase needed to maintain the current rate of restaurant inspections was rejected Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors.

During the six years since the last fee hike, county Health Care Agency inspections for restaurants and other food handling establishments have fallen from three annually to two because of staff reductions. Now, some restaurants will be inspected just once a year, according to Richard Sanchez, the county’s assistant director of health.

Supervisors also turned down an option to replace single-color inspection placards at the entrance to restaurants to ones that would be red, yellow or green. The color-coded alternative was intended to make diners more aware of an establishment’s inspection status.

“This is not the right time to increase fees, given the state of the economy,” Supervisor Todd Spitzer said after the meeting. “I don’t see this jeopardizing health at all. There’s no public outcry from the public to increase fees.”

The sole supervisor supporting the fee increase was John Moorlach, whose motion to increase fees and implement the red-yellow-green placards died for lack of a second, with no discussion. He was asked about Spitzer’s comment that public health would not be endangered.

“It’s not important until you walk out of a restaurant with a foodborne disease,” Moorlach said. “Then you think maybe there should be hot water, maybe there shouldn’t be cockroaches.”

The Health Care Agency is responsible for inspecting all of the 13,800 food facilities countywide, including restaurants, grocery stores, bars and convenience stores. It must cover its inspection costs with fees generated from those food-handling businesses. Fees start at about $561 annually for a restaurant with 30 seats or fewer.

Because personnel and other overhead increase annually, the inspection program has lost about 7 percent of its staff since 2009, according to a report to county supervisors. The federal Food and Drug Administration suggests three to four inspections per year.

“We recommend two annually for public safety,” Sanchez said. “Now some places will be inspected once a year. We will reduce staff. We will reduce inspections.”

Spitzer pointed out that customers can file complaints about food handling businesses with the Health Care Agency. There’s an online complaint form, or customers can call the agency at 714-433-6000.

“If there’s an issue, restaurants get shut down,” he said.

A 2008 county grand jury report called for the county to post a graded rating of A, B or C at the entrance to restaurants.

The restaurant industry successfully lobbied against the change, and the county continued a system in which placards look virtually identical except that they say either Pass, Reinspection Due or Closed.

A grand jury report this year suggested the color-coded system “to improve the visibility of restaurant inspection placards,” with the idea that it would be more acceptable to restaurant owners.

“They didn’t give a lot of pushback to the red-yellow-green,” Moorlach said.

Supervisors were given two options – a 5.4 percent fee hike without changing the placards or a 5.6 percent hike that would implement the new system. Instead, supervisors declined to vote on either.

“I’m conservative and don’t support tax increases,” Moorlach said. “But this is not a tax – this is a fee related to a service. The people who benefit from this should be the ones who pay for it.”

Contact the writer: mwisckol@ocregister.com