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 .