Payments for Storm Roadwork Mired in Red Tape : Some Firms Complain They Have Yet to Be Paid for January Cleanup as Caltrans Tackles Backlog of Paperwork

Their work began with late-night phone calls in January, urgent requests to clear mud-soaked highways or remove tons of debris from storm-choked flood channels.

Within minutes, they waded into the darkness, organizing an army of bulldozers, skip-loaders and dump trucks through a driving rain to answer Caltrans’ emergency call.

Working around the clock, dozens of contractors and subcontractors moved tons of rocks and mud from the Ventura Freeway, California 150, the Pacific Coast Highway and numerous other roads throughout Ventura County.

Now, nearly four months later, many of those independent contractors are still waiting to get paid.

“We go out there to do this work on an emergency basis, then we have to wait months to get paid,” said Grace Mosler, who added that her Newbury Park-based Mosler & Co. is owed more than $60,000 for emergency roadwork done in January.

“I’ve been on the phone with Caltrans probably no less than five times a week to try and find out what’s going on,” Mosler said. “We all have to go out and borrow money, but we sure don’t get reimbursed for the interest.”

Mosler is not alone.

A handful of smaller contractors across Ventura County is complaining that the state Department of Transportation is quick to ask for the cleanup work but slow to pay for it.

Caltrans officials say they are processing the paperwork as fast as they can to settle as much as $60 million worth of emergency contracts issued statewide after some of the worst storms to batter California in years.

But too often, Caltrans spokesman Russell Snyder said, contractors fail to submit all of the paperwork required to pay off a contract. Also, he said, a new accounting system started since the Northridge earthquake has contributed to the backlog.

“It’s certainly very unfortunate,” Snyder said of the delays. “We certainly don’t like paperwork. We like building things and improving things.”

Also, because the federal government typically reimburses up to 95% of the state’s cost to clean up disasters, Snyder said, even more detailed paperwork is required.

“We have to be very careful in documenting how we spend our money,” he said. “That’s our protection and the taxpayers’ protection that the money is spent properly.”

But those built-in safeguards have not helped Roberto Hurtado, an independent trucking company owner who said Caltrans owes him more than $150,000 for road and storm drain work he did in January as a subcontractor.

“It’s tough. What can I tell you?” he said. “Fortunately, I’m stable enough financially to take one of these (emergency state) jobs from time to time. But I can’t afford to take very many of them.”

Hurtado, whose Newbury Park company is called R-Help Construction, did a series of grading and storm drain jobs for Caltrans after last year’s Northridge earthquake.

It took about 60 days to get paid for those contracts, Hurtado said. But he is still waiting for the money he is owed for similar work he did for Caltrans early this year.

“I call twice a week, asking when we can get the money,” he said. “I owe some suppliers that are getting very desperate.

“I have paid some of them because they’re small and they have to have something to continue their business,” Hurtado said. “But if I don’t get paid soon. . . .”

Madelaine Shenkel said Caltrans owes her Shenkel Trucking Co. about $27,000 for emergency work the Moorpark firm did for the state in January.

“When (Caltrans) needs the trucks and they have an emergency, we’re there,” Shenkel said. “We’re out there on a minute’s notice, work our 10- or 15-hour shifts, then we go home.”

But like other smaller contractors, Shenkel has yet to receive payment for clearing portions of the Ventura Freeway at California 33, when that stretch of highway flooded in January.

“They don’t realize that that’s our money to live on, to make our house payments, to pay our insurance and buy groceries,” she said of Caltrans. “The truckers are being very patient, but I don’t have a credit line to float that.”

Jim Burton is an executive vice president of the Southern California Contractors Assn., a Los Angeles-based trade group with more than 250 members. He said too frequently he hears complaints from contractors awaiting Caltrans paychecks.

“It’s terrible,” Burton said. “The smaller the company is, the tougher it is because they don’t generally have the resources to continue.

“They have obligations, yet they’re not getting paid,” he said.

Burton agreed with Caltrans spokesman Snyder that part of the problem is due to contractors themselves, who sometimes fail to turn in all of the necessary paperwork.

“When we get complaints like this, we’ve found that Caltrans is more than willing to work with us,” Burton said. “We talk to Caltrans, find out what the problem is and get it fixed.”

Charles Rasmussen, one of three brothers who run the Simi Valley-based C. A. Rasmussen Construction Inc.--one of the largest contractors in Ventura County--said he frequently has to wait months to get paid for some of the state contracts his company undertakes.

Rasmussen said that Caltrans still owes his company money for work done in January, but that the wait is not unusual.

Many of the subcontractors still owed for work on projects he supervised, however, are simply unfamiliar with what the state requires before issuing checks, Rasmussen said.

“With the smaller guys, a lot of times the paperwork that is required to get paid is not entirely complete,” he said. “They are negligent in getting their bills to Caltrans because of their lack of doing business with them.”

The payment delays following this winter’s floods are no lengthier than many other jobs C. A. Rasmussen has done, the contractor said.

Subcontractors “are used to turning in their billings and standing there waiting for you to write them a check,” Rasmussen said. “But with Caltrans it takes some time, and if it’s not complete they bounce it back.”

Mosler, however, sees it differently.

“No one can bankroll the state,” she said. “But that’s what we’re doing.”