FEMA Recovery Funds May Be Short $6 Billion : Aid: Agency’s director says Clinton will ask Congress for more money to address impact of Northridge quake.

At the same time the federal government released a glowing assessment of its response to the Northridge quake, Federal Emergency Management Agency Director James Lee Witt said Monday he anticipates a funding shortfall of up to $6 billion to pay for the rest of Southern California’s recovery.

During a meeting with The Times editorial board, Witt said President Clinton will ask Congress for more recovery dollars when he submits next year’s budget next month.

“We’ve told the Administration and some members of Congress that there is probably going to be some more funds needed to fulfill the commitment to rebuild California,” he said.

Thus far, the federal government has spent or committed to spending $7.5 billion of the $11.05 billion the Clinton Administration set aside to rebuild after the Jan. 17 earthquake--the nation’s most expensive disaster.

In addition to the growing price tag to repair the city’s damaged infrastructure, Witt said, the bulk of the shortfall can be attributed to unforeseen repair costs at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center and UCLA’s medical complex.

In both cases, he said, the repair figures have nearly doubled in comparison to estimates made soon after the quake.

For example, the estimated cost for repairs at County-USC jumped from $400 million to up to $1.3 billion to build a new state-of-the-art medical center in lieu of repairing the aging facility.

A similar situation arose with the UCLA medical complex. Early estimates projected a $630-million price tag. But UCLA officials are now seeking up to $1 billion to repair and upgrade the facility.

“In both cases the current figures are substantially higher than they once were,” said Richard Andrews, director of the state Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, who also attended the editorial board meeting.

Although he could not cite an exact figure until further analysis is completed, Witt said he believes the shortfall may range from $3 billion to $6 billion.

A federal funding shortfall was initially projected last month when Los Angeles County and the Office of Emergency Services released figures estimating that damage to public facilities has more than doubled--to more than $6 billion over the last year.

Witt declined to guess how the new Republican-controlled Congress will respond to the request, saying he will have a better fix on the reaction once FEMA has a more accurate sum for the shortfall.

Other FEMA officials were optimistic, however, saying the disaster cut across party lines and should not get caught up in partisan debate.

“It’s hard to think that they would not fund an eligible cost,” said FEMA spokesman Morrie Goodman. “It’s not a partisan issue.”

In an interview, Mayor Richard Riordan said he plans to travel to Washington in the next several weeks to lobby members of Congress for more funding for the city program as well as other recovery programs.

Witt’s visit to Los Angeles coincided with FEMA’s release of an upbeat 62-page report on the region’s recovery to commemorate the first anniversary of the 6.7-magnitude earthquake.

The publication--titled “The Northridge Earthquake; One Year Later”--is adorned with a black-and-white cover. The black side includes photos of quake-damaged schools, malls and freeways while the white side shows children studying in clean, rebuilt classrooms, reopened malls and repaired freeways.

“There is no question that, in the year since the first tremors rocked Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties, monumental achievements have been made by citizens, communities and government by embracing a creative and collaborative recovery process,” the report said. “But the work is not yet completed. Structures of vital interest remain vulnerable. There is much rebuilding to be done.”

In echoing the report, Witt said that a great deal of rebuilding lies ahead. “A lot has been accomplished but we still have a lot to do,” he said. “It’s going to take some time to do the recovery because a lot of these are very large projects and there are a lot of details to go over.”

An accompanying report by the federal Office of Management and Budget said the Clinton Administration has committed $11.05 billion to quake recovery and so far has spent or promised to spend $7.5 billion, or 67% of the total budget.

Nearly half of that money--$3.4 billion--has been doled out by the Small Business Administration in the form of loans to businesses and homeowners. Another $2.8 billion has been spent by FEMA in the form of individual and family grants as well as the salaries of disaster employees, among other expenses.

To date, the federal government has received 667,800 requests for aid, according to the report.

In a related development, Clinton announced Monday that he would make available $11.7 million in emergency contingency funds to address new needs in the quake recovery.

About half of that money will be spent on evaluating and repairing historic structures damaged in the quake.

Another $6.3 million will be used to research better building methods, including new techniques for constructing and repairing steel-frame buildings. After the quake, many experts were surprised to learn that joints in many steel-frame buildings had cracked under the force of the temblor.

City officials are currently considering an ordinance to require owners of 400 steel-frame buildings in the hardest-hit areas of the city to begin inspections and repairs within a year.

As Witt toured Los Angeles, he met with school officials who, despite criticizing his agency a month ago for holding up school repairs, issued the FEMA director a formal proclamation.

District officials said the federal government has remained committed to helping repair campuses even though many schools still face months of construction.

“There was a tremendous amount of damage and a lot more that needs to be done,” said Supt. Sid Thompson of the Los Angeles Unified School District. “The one silver lining . . . was FEMA.”

Board of Education President Mark Slavkin asked Witt to help speed the bigger projects that have not yet been funded. “Our largest projects . . . are the ones that are lagging in terms of FEMA approvals,” Slavkin said.

But Witt said that the bigger--and more expensive--repair projects are more complicated and require more architectural and engineering studies before they can be funded.

“I’m sure that as the months go by and things do slow down . . . frustration builds--that’s human nature,” Witt said after appearing before the school board. “We’re going to continue to work with the schools and the state to expedite things.”

Times staff writer Beth Shuster contributed to this story.