Airport Funds Need Watching

The mingling of funds for John Wayne Airport and El Toro airport planning has produced some problems, we now learn. This should not have been a surprise, but it should prompt better oversight.

Planning a big new airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station at a time when the county was in no mood for infrastructure spending after the 1994 bankruptcy provided one of the justifications for a two-airport system. Hence, the shell game.

The county found a way to spend John Wayne Airport money at El Toro by conceiving the project as part of a linked airport system. Having everything related to everything else avoided dipping into the general fund, and making a pitch to taxpayers to fund airport planning, but it also invited confusion in following the money. The recent order by county supervisors to conduct an audit of diverted funds proved that concern about such confusion was well-founded.

In the polarized split between pro- and anti-airport factions on the Board of Supervisors, it is left to the minority opposed to the project to double as spending watchdog. The El Toro work done by a consultant hired to do John Wayne Airport work was revealed in a memo sent by the airport’s deputy director to Supervisor Tom Wilson after Wilson’s office sought the information. The board’s other anti-airport member, Todd Spitzer, has expressed concern about the repeated discovery of El Toro work within county contracts.

It turned out that the contractor, JHTM & Associates, was paid to negotiate a lease with the Navy and oversee the company hired to manage the base golf course, horse stables and other services. This broadened its portfolio beyond planning an airport for the base.

The county maintains that the bulk of the work was aviation-related and that eventually any non-aviation work would be paid from the correct fund. That had better be so, because the Federal Aviation Administration restricts use of John Wayne money to airport planning only.

But it’s apparent even from this much diversion how easy it is to lose track. County officials two years ago asked the firm to take over El Toro duties without either notifying supervisors or changing the company contract.

To sort things out, supervisors have no alternative but to bring in their own auditor. They also are going to have to make some tough decisions on how much El Toro spending is worth when measured against other demands. Uncertainty over paying for things at El Toro also points up the failure to bring in revenue from the unoccupied housing at the base. That housing isn’t just about revenue. It also is sorely needed to meet the affordable-housing crisis in the county.