Coast digs in heels on $50-million question
June Casagrande
NEWPORT COAST -- More than $420,000 set aside in the late 1980s to
improve library services for residents reportedly was funneled into an
Aliso Viejo library instead. Another $392,310 that was supposed to build
a sheriff’s substation reportedly improved the Aliso Viejo substation.
Residents want to know why.
These two items are just part of a list of questions being prepared
for county officials that aims to get to the bottom of a $50-million
question about how and where Newport Coast taxpayer money was spent in
the 1980s and ‘90s.
Residents plan to present their specific questions to the county in
about 60 days in the hopes of finding out whether millions of dollars in
assessment district taxes and some developer fees were spent on their
intended purpose and area.
Unlike an open-ended set of questions residents posed in spring 1999
that turned up “unsatisfactory” answers more than a year later, the
current inquiry intends to pin down county officials with specific dates,
fund names, projects and dollar amounts.
“These things have never been fully explained,” said Jerry Ross, a
member of the Newport Coast Advisory Committee’s finance subcommittee,
which is leading the inquiry. “We just want the county to explain what
they did.”
The library and sheriff’s substation were paid for by the Irvine Co.
in the form of developer fees earmarked specifically to benefit Newport
Coast residents. While it could be argued that the Aliso Viejo facilities
serve the community, many residents say it would have made more sense to
put the money into the Newport Beach library system or a closer county
library.
In fact, a 1998 county report shows that some of the Irvine Co. funds
helped build the Newport Beach Central Library on Avocado Avenue.
Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said the city didn’t receive any of this
money.
Some residents also say that building a Newport Coast sheriff’s
substation would have better served the community’s residents than
improving facilities in Aliso Viejo would.
In addition to the issues of the library and substation, up to $10
million used to build a portion of Newport Coast Drive remains
unaccounted for.
From assessment district bonds issued in 1988, $40.3 million paid for
construction of the 6.1-mile Newport Coast Drive. Several years later,
the Transportation Corridor Agency announced it would take possession of
the northern two miles of that road to make it part of the toll road. The
agency reimbursed residents $3.5 million, though a third of the
$40-million roadway cost more than $13 million. The residents who paid to
build the road now pay tolls to use that portion of it.
And yet another area of concern has come to light. Residents who asked
in March 2000 for funds to build a footbridge to Newport Coast Elementary
School were told by a representative of the county that the $30 million
residents thought was there had been reimbursed to the taxpayers.
According to documents prepared by the county chief executive’s
office: “There was $30.1 million in interest from unused construction
funds in the Irvine Coast Assessment District. The money was dispersed
back to the property owners and their assessments were decreased by 24
percent.”
Resident Steve Fink, who headed the effort to build the footbridge,
said he never saw any such reduction on his tax bill. That county
document marked the end of the effort to build the $1.5-million to
$4-million footbridge, which would have allowed children safer access to
the elementary school.
“We just want to find out the truth,” Fink said.
Added to several other issues, the amount of money at the center of
the residents’ inquiry now comes to about $50 million.
But with the city of Newport Beach in their corner, the community’s
residents might have a better chance of getting clear answers to their
questions than they did when they tried it alone in 1999. The city
pledged its help in the inquiry as part of its annexation agreement with
Newport Coast.
Marian Beacham of the county chief executive’s office said it is a top
priority to answer residents’ questions in a quick and thorough manner.
“I’m the person those questions will be directed toward; I will get
those questions answered as quickly as possible,” Beacham said.
* June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)
574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .
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