O.C. Airport Millions Land in El Toro’s Books

More than $14 million that could have been spent on operations at John Wayne Airport in the past five years has been routed instead by county officials to pay for planning a commercial airport at the El Toro Marine base.

The John Wayne Airport money represents the bulk of nearly $23 million spent to date on El Toro since a countywide vote in 1994 approved turning the base into a commercial airport after the Marines leave in July.

The airport funds come from parking fees, concessions, business leases, taxis and airline landing fees.

South County opponents of an El Toro airport have raised questions about the county spending John Wayne Airport money for planning at El Toro, including a 770-acre regional park and 88 acres for a southern campus of Cal State Fullerton.

Particularly galling for airport foes is a decision by the pro-El Toro majority on the Board of Supervisors to spend $151,000 for six months’ worth of cable television advertisements touting the benefits of the new airport.

A confidential legal opinion by County Counsel Laurence M. Watson justified the county’s practice of using John Wayne Airport funds for planning the reuse of the entire 4,700-acre base. Supervisors refused to make the opinion public, but it has been available anyway.

The opinion cites Federal Aviation Administration correspondence in 1997 and 1998 endorsing the county’s approach. FAA policies allow money from one airport to be spent on planning another, as long as both airports would be operated by the same entity. Money also can be spent to assure that nearby uses are compatible with the airport.

County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who opposes a commercial airport at El Toro, asked Watson for the opinion 18 months ago. He said he is satisfied that airport money can be used for planning.

But Watson couldn’t tell him last week whether the funds also could be used for maintenance, especially since the county is seeking bids for a $1-million contract to fix paving at both John Wayne and El Toro.

“What bothers me is that the county continues to spend money any way they want before they’ve answered the legal questions,” Spitzer said.

Though most of the planning costs have been paid from airport sources, about $3.3 million in county tax money also has been used, according to airport officials. The rest of the funds came from federal and state grants.

Money from the county general fund was used for planning a commercial and residential alternative that ETRPA advocated for the base, officials said. Airport money cannot be spent on the strictly non-aviation plan, Watson said.

The money hasn’t been missed at John Wayne Airport, Interim Director Loan Leblow said. The funds were not needed for other projects and, if El Toro weren’t being planned, the money probably would have been set aside for preparing a future expansion at John Wayne, she said.

Taking the $14.3 million away from John Wayne hasn’t resulted in higher fees either, Leblow said. For example, the airport’s landing fee for airliners is $1.46 for every 1,000 pounds of landing weight, which is less than the $1.53 charged by Los Angeles International Airport.

Airports like LAX, Ontario International and Lindbergh Field in San Diego also charge each passenger a $3 facilities fee that is not charged in Orange County. And John Wayne Airport’s parking fees are competitive, with terminal rates lowered from $14 a day to $11 a day since 1994.

“We’re very efficient and cost-effective here,” Leblow said.

Consumers don’t see the savings because the airliners generally charge higher fares at John Wayne Airport, where the number of flights are limited.

The airport is doing so well financially, she said, that the county two years ago made an early payment of $28 million on bond issues for the airport’s expansion, which was completed in 1991. About $200 million in two bond issues, due 2012 and 2018, remain unpaid for the airport’s 1985 expansion project.

El Toro airport foes have raised doubts about whether John Wayne Airport could continue to produce enough money to pay off its bonds if El Toro is opened as planned in 2005.

Under a county proposal to be voted upon by supervisors in December, El Toro would serve an estimated 28.8 million passengers by 2020, while John Wayne Airport would shrink from its current 7 million passengers a year to about 5 million passengers.

While the county has spent millions planning for El Toro, seven cities in South County that make up ETRPA have spent millions of their own fighting the proposed airport. The group’s annual budget is about $2 million, and comes from taxes generated in those cities.

Irvine, an ETRPA member, recently set aside $2 million more to fight additional airport issues, including lawsuits and promotion of ETRPA’s non-aviation Millennium Plan. The money came out of a $17-million surplus.

The new city of Laguna Woods recently voted to become the eighth city in ETRPA, and will join the group as soon as it makes a first-year contribution of $150,000.

Supervisor Tom Wilson, the other anti-airport supervisor on the five-member board, said South County cities don’t have a “cash cow” like John Wayne Airport to tap into to pay for its costs.

“They’re spending all of this money, and I’ve never seen a breakdown of where it came from and where it was spent,” Wilson said. “I can’t believe we have so much money at John Wayne Airport that we can spend it on a pie-in-the-sky project like El Toro.”

Spitzer said supervisors should pledge to reimburse John Wayne Airport for its costs if El Toro is built.

But Leblow disagreed. She said current planning efforts cover both El Toro and John Wayne Airport to 2020, through a board vote in 1996 adopting a “two-airport system.”