FAA Softens Demand on Airport Funds
The Federal Aviation Administration softened its demand Wednesday that the city of Los Angeles return $31 million to the Department of Airports by Tuesday, and gave officials until Dec. 2 to give back the money.
The reprieve came in response to a letter City Councilman Nate Holden wrote to Susan Kurland, the FAA administrator who issued the order. In a letter to airports chief Jack Driscoll, Kurland wrote that she was granting the extension to allow the City Council to act Tuesday on a motion from Holden to return the money.
The city has not made any official move to return the funds since the FAA put the city on notice Nov. 13.
Another player in the dispute is the Air Transport Assn., which lobbied members of Congress to take action against the city. The group represents airlines operating at Los Angeles International Airport, and the organization has clashed with Mayor Richard Riordan several times over budget-balancing transfers from the airport to the city’s general fund.
The disputed Sept. 28 transfer was made based on an independent audit that showed the city was owed hundreds of millions of dollars for capital improvements and fire and police services at LAX. But the FAA contended that the debt was settled in 1975, when the airports department paid the city $5.2 million.
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