Program for Mentally Disabled Faces Eviction : Social services: Job training group contends that bureaucratic snafu caused its property to be sold to developer. It will seek to block action in court today.

A nonprofit job training program for the mentally disabled is facing eviction from a Compton building where it has provided occupational training for a quarter-century.

Attorneys for the program, the Mid-Cities Assn. for Retarded Citizens, will go to court today in an attempt to block the eviction by a real estate investor. Frank Prior purchased the association’s property for a fraction of its worth at a county auction in February after the building fell into default on property taxes.

The program’s lawyers say even if they succeed in stalling the eviction, they may have to pay rent to the new owner--a burden the small program says it cannot afford. It counsels and trains about 200 disabled clients.

The association contends that it would have paid all its taxes if the county tax assessor’s office had given it proper notice. The problem, according to program manager Betsog Jugo, is that the county billed the program for only one of the two buildings it owns.

Jugo said the program’s executive director, John Wagoner, made a special trip to the assessor’s office to pay the taxes after receiving a notice that taxes were due. Jugo said the assessor’s office gave Wagoner a bill for one of the two buildings on the lot on South Alameda Street. Wagoner was assured that the $10,000 he paid covered everything, Jugo said.

It was not until the county auctioned off the building--on which another $19,000 in taxes was owed--that the group became aware of the mix-up, Jugo said.

Prior bought the building for $38,000--far less than the building’s actual value of $450,000, according to the association.

One of the group’s attorneys, William Finer, said Prior refused an offer to buy the property back with interest and significant tax breaks. Prior then obtained the eviction order.

Prior could not be reached for comment. His attorneys said there had been no improprieties in his actions.

Martha Romero, a lawyer with the county counsel’s office, said the county “complied with all notice requirements,” and legally auctioned the property after the group failed for five years to pay a “direct assessment” tax.

The program’s lawyers say they are hopeful that a Compton Municipal Court judge today will block the eviction. However, they say it will take a Superior Court trial, set for next March, to resolve the issue of ownership. No matter what the outcome, they say the program, which receives funding from state and private sources, could be forced to pay months of rent.