2 Agencies List Meal, Car Allowance Expenses : Transportation: Officials responding to a state senator who introduced legislation on spending limits detail thousands of dollars in expenditures.

Orange County’s cash-strapped toll road officials, who have borrowed money to pay bills, spent $13,300 on meals and $29,200 on car allowances last year, according to a tally prepared by the Transportation Corridor Agencies.

In comparison, the Orange County Transportation Authority spent about $4,000 on meals and $109,560 on staff car allowances, OCTA officials said.

These and other expenditures were detailed this week by both agencies in response to state Sen. Quentin L. Kopp (I-San Francisco), who has introduced legislation that would strictly limit such spending. That bill followed a story in The Times last year about expenditures by the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission totaling $2.9 million for meals, travel and company fleet cars as well as free doughnuts for staffers over 18 months.

Kopp sought the expense data in letters written Jan. 4 to transportation officials statewide, in preparation for hearings on his bill.

That bill, SB40, would deny state funds to transportation agencies that, for example, spend money on memberships in private clubs or entertainment or whose executives receive salaries that are greater than 130% of the pay received by the director of the California Department of Transportation. Currently, the Caltrans director’s salary is about $100,000.

Salaries of corridor agency Executive Director William C. Woollett Jr. and OCTA Chief Executive Officer Stan Oftelie appear to bump up against the proposed salary ceiling but do not exceed it.

Woollett is paid $128,095 a year plus an additional $15,094 in fringe benefits, according to the corridor agency.

Oftelie’s compensation includes $126,892 in salary and $32,550 in fringe benefits, but that includes about $14,000 in a onetime pension benefit.

“We’re not opposed to Kopp’s ideas, but we would be unhappy with any unreasonable restriction,” Oftelie said, “like if it means we can’t give a cup of coffee to someone who’s waiting in the hall for a job interview.”

Woollett and Kopp could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

The following are some of the expenditures detailed in responses to Kopp:

* Four corridor agency employees have been given the free use of vehicles ranging from a 1987 GMC truck to a 1991 Jeep, all owned by the agency and each valued at $5,800 a year. A fifth employee receives a $6,000 car allowance instead of a vehicle.

* Thirteen OCTA employees have free use of cars, but the makes and models were not disclosed.

* The corridor agency has given a $99,200 home mortgage loan at 6% interest to one employee, while OCTA has made no such loans.

* The corridor agency reported that it has not paid for any travel other than economy or coach class during the past three years, but OCTA’s Oftelie said one of his employees was forced to take a first-class seat on a flight from San Jose when no other seats were available. “It was cheaper than having the employee spend the night in a hotel,” he explained.

In a bid to explain high meal bills, the corridor agency stated that it schedules many committee meetings at noon to “accommodate board member schedules. Lunch is provided for all individuals required to attend the meetings.”

About $6,300 was spent on meals provided at committee meetings, officials said, while another $7,000 was “expended for meals outside the TCA offices.”

“Total non-employee meal expense for the calendar year 1992 was approximately $13,000.”

“It should be noted that, unlike other agencies, ours hasn’t received state or federal funds,” said corridor agency spokesman Mike Stockstill. “So far, our bills are paid with developer fees.”