State Examining L.A.’s Plan to Use Harbor Dept. Funds

State officials are taking issue with plans by the city of Los Angeles plans to help itself to about $70 million in revenues from its lucrative, semi-independent Harbor Department.

The California Lands Commission, armed with an analysis from the state attorney general’s office, asked the Harbor Commission to delay a decision on transferring Tidelands Trust revenues to the city’s general fund.

Getting more money out of the city’s three so-called proprietary departments--Water and Power, Airports and Harbor--has been a major thrust of Mayor Richard Riordan’s drive to beef up police and other services without raising taxes. The basis for the proposed Harbor Department funds transfer is a consultant’s study that calculates the city’s costs of providing such services as street repairs and firefighting. The city is entitled to be reimbursed for those, the mayor’s office said.

But Port of Los Angeles users and tenants, led by the Steamship Assn. of Southern California, see things differently and are battling the transfer. They appear to have found an ally in the state, which has a law barring municipalities from spending coastal facilities’ revenues outside the immediate area.

Michael Keeley, Riordan’s finance chief, said he is not especially worried by the state’s concerns, which include the study’s methodology in calculating city costs.

“We’ll certainly take a look” at the issues raised by the state, Keeley said, but he added that he believes the city’s position is strong because “we’ve worked closely with both city staff and outside experts” on the costs transfer issue.