$11 Million Restored for Transit Projects

Nearly $11 million in funding for San Diego County transit projects, including the El Cajon trolley extension, was among state spending programs restored by legislation signed Friday by Gov. George Deukmejian.

The governor, who twice this year had vetoed money for transit projects throughout the state, approved the full $35 million that was approved by the Legislature earlier this month.

But Deukmejian still prolonged a showdown with legislators over state finances by slashing in half $174.4 million in appropriations for key education programs, child welfare, and health care for the working poor. Deukmejian said the new Legislature could devise means to fully fund those programs when it convenes in December.

Lawmakers avoided a similar fate for 25 transit projects by agreeing to fund them from a special state account that can only be spent on transportation projects.

For San Diego County, the action will mean $8 million toward the 11-mile extension of the trolley’s east line; $2 million toward the planned “multimodal” transit center in Escondido, and $981,000 toward the Bayfront trolley stop in Chula Vista.

For months, the Legislature and Deukmejian have been at odds over a proposed $300 million transfer of funds from the state employees pension fund. Deukmejian, who has accused lawmakers of reneging after agreeing to make the transfer, had threatened numerous state spending items, including transit projects.

But although legislators still have not given Deukmejian the pension fund transfer he sought, they restored money for the transit projects by using the state’s share of negotiated settlements between the federal government and oil companies over price control violations between 1973 and 1981.

Under restrictions imposed by courts and Congress, the money can be spent only on transportation projects.

Metropolitan Transit Development Board officials, who want El Cajon trolley service to open in 1989, said the threat of losing some state funding had never derailed plans for the extension. But they said they had developed standby cost-cutting plans that might have meant less-frequent service.