Countywide : Cost of Delaying Road Work Cited

Further legal delays preventing use of Measure M sales tax revenue for traffic improvements could cost taxpayers an extra $20 million to $40 million in spiraling land and construction prices, according to a court declaration filed by a key transportation official.

Stanley T. Oftelie, head of the Orange County Transportation Authority, said Thursday that his agency has asked state appellate justices to dismiss an appeal challenging the the constitutionality of Measure M “to protect the interests of Orange County commuters.”

The extra $20 million to $40 million, transportation officials explained, is an estimate of the higher costs the authority could expect to pay for acquiring rights of way and for construction of Measure M projects if the court case drags on for nine months to a year.

Currently, $49.35 million in projects funded by Measure M are under way, including widening of the Orange Freeway. But the lawsuit is preventing the Transportation Authority from financing another $500 million or more in projects through the sale of revenue bonds.

Bond underwriters won’t handle the financing, officials said, until the future of Measure M proceeds is decided by the courts. The half-cent sales levy, approved by voters last November, is expected to raise $3.1 billion during the next 20 years.

Among traffic improvements that will be delayed without speedy resolution of the court case, according to the court declaration filed by Oftelie, are reconstruction of the interchange of the San Diego and Santa Ana freeways in Irvine, and the interchange of the Garden Grove, Orange and Santa Ana freeways, the nation’s seventh-busiest interchange.

In May, Superior Court Judge William W. Bedsworth rejected plaintiffs’ arguments that Measure M should be thrown out because it was approved by a simple majority rather than a two-thirds vote.

The plaintiffs--Drivers for Highway Safety, Citizens Against Unfair Taxation and the Libertarian Central Committee--have filed an appeal.

Oftelie’s written declaration was filed on July 31 with the 4th District Court of Appeal as part of the Transportation Authority’s motion to dismiss the case. The plaintiffs have until Thursday to file a response.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Mark Rosen said it was unlikely that an appellate panel would dismiss their claim based solely on Oftelie’s court declaration.

“I could make the same argument that millions of dollars were wasted by county officials in not doing a better job on this tax measure both in 1984,” when a 1-cent levy was defeated, “and in 1989,” when voters rejected a half-cent measure, Rosen said.