Kathy Long and Socorro Lopez Hanson, the two candidates for Ventura County 3rd District supervisor, faced off Monday in their last scheduled debate before the June 3 election.

Long, the district's supervisor since 1996, highlighted her experience and accomplishments, particularly those in the Santa Clara River Valley, since the debate was held in Santa Paula.

"I feel that I've worked hard and you've invested in me," Long said. "Experience does matter."

Lopez Hanson, the executive director of a nonprofit agency and a trustee on the Oxnard Union High School District board, argued that change is needed in the district.

"I'm running because it's time for a change," she said. "I have the knowledge and the experience to do this job."

Long rattled off a list of endorsements, including city council members from Santa Paula, Fillmore and Camarillo, while Lopez Hanson said she was proud to have a grass-roots campaign that's funded mostly by herself and her friends and family.

Lopez Hanson accused Long of being beholden to "special interests," pointing to the $700 contribution her campaign received last year from contractor and gravel mine owner Tom Staben.

Staben has done more than $11.4 million in work for the county, despite being under investigation by the federal government for potentially illegal dumping.

Long replied that she asked the county's public works director and Watershed Protection District director if Staben had "stepped over the line," so that the county should no longer work with him, and both officials said he had not.

"Is he being investigated? Yes, he is," Long said. "Is he innocent until proven guilty? I believe that's how the law works."

Staben's donation of $700 is the most he could give under the county's campaign finance regulations, and Long noted that she was a co-author of the ordinance that established that limit.

"That ordinance eliminated the huge donations that people used to get from the special interests," she said.

Monday's debate was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Ventura County and moderated by David Maron, the chairman of the Ventura County Civic Alliance.

When Maron asked the candidates what their top priorities would be, Long said that fiscal responsibility is her top concern, followed by maintaining the county's public healthcare system.

That system includes Santa Paula Hospital, which was a private hospital until it went bankrupt and was purchased and reopened by the county.

"I worked very hard with the leadership in this city and in Fillmore to successfully open that hospital," Long said. "Reopening a closed hospital, that is unheard of in California."

Lopez Hanson said she would also focus on healthcare and the budget, and would also work to "bring more diversity to the upper levels of county management."

"That's not to say that you fill the job with quotas," she said. "You get the best candidate for the job, but you make sure you find the best candidate and not just the person that's next in line."

Lopez Hanson proposed two measures to save money in the county's $1.6 billion budget. Many county departments have their own human resources divisions, and Lopez Hanson said those should be consolidated under the central human resources office.

She also suggested an incremental expansion for the Todd Road Jail near Santa Paula. The Board of Supervisors is planning an expansion that will cost more than $100 million because the jail is already overcrowded.

Long and Lopez Hanson will be on the ballot in the 3rd District, which consists of Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru, Camarillo and Port Hueneme. Two other supervisors' seats are up for grabs: the 5th District, in which Supervisor John Flynn faces challengers John Zaragoza and Denis O'Leary; and the 1st District, in which Supervisor Steve Bennett has only write-in opposition, from Jeff Ketelsen.