San Clemente, Grand Jury Agree: TCA Should Pay Debts, Close Shop

SAN CLEMENTE, CA — The city of San Clemente feels vindicated Tuesday after a second Orange County Grand Jury report supports the city's actions against the Transportation Corridor Agencies over the past 5 years. For five years, the city of San Clemente has battled the TCA on studies for new roads and through ways that the residents don't want or need. The city agrees with the report from the grand jury.

The report explains, in simple detail, why the TCA should pay off its billions in debt and go out of business.

According to the report, "the grand jury recommends the TCA develop and implement a written plan to pay off all debt by 2040, the original maturity date of the initial debt offering."

The grand jury said it wants the plan submitted by the end of the year with recurring annual updates.

"This allows for completion of the 91 Express Connector and other projects currently in planning," the grand jury reports. "This will result in debt service savings of approximately $1 billion."

The grand jury also recommended the agency eliminate impact fees paid by developers once the debt is paid off. Until then the fees should go toward paying off debt

The grand jury also recommended merging the Foothill/EasternTransportation Corridor Agency and San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency — the two agencies that oversee the toll roads — to save money.

Orange County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett, who serves on the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency board, said even if the agencies retire the debt and put themselves out of business it may cost motorists more money in the long run because the state would take over the roads and continue assessing tolls.

"The state of California will continue the toll road and charge what they want, which could be significantly higher than the TCA charges," Bartlett told City News Service.

"I'm informed the roads will not be free" if turned over to Caltrans, Bartlett said.
"I would rather maintain local control and charge a reasonable rate rather than turn it over to the state of California and let them charge whatever they want," Bartlett said.

Bartlett said the TCA charges less than the 91 express lanes at peak hours and less than many toll roads across the country.

In a letter to the grand jury on Monday, Samuel Johnson, TCA's chief executive, said the report contains "inaccuracies and missing elements... some of which involve background information and others that will influence our formal response."

Johnson said the report has a "Lack of recognition of the economic value the roads have provided in contributing to Orange County's quality of life."

Johnson added that the "key oversights in the report are 1) the assumption regarding how the boards may operate over the next 30 years— decisions that clearly have not been made; and 2) the implication that the boards are not developing plans around their respective financial stability."

The City’s recent decision to withdraw from the TCA and stop paying new Development Impact Fees was due to the same findings later made by the Grand Jury, according to city Mayor Kathleen Ward.

“The independent report of the Grand Jury is a complete validation of the City of San Clemente’s activities. Every city in Orange County owes San Clemente a debt of gratitude for turning a bright light on the TCA’s nefarious activities," Ward wrote in a statement. "By following our lead, we will actually be reducing the cost of housing throughout the County."

The Grand Jury Report followed the money. The city explains that for too long, the TCA has allowed toll money to go from Orange County residents using the toll roads to '...the favorite charities of city councilmembers who sit on the Board.”

Furthermore, as stated in the Grand Jury Report '...millions have gone to advocacy groups that are free to politically support certain TCA Board members and undermine others.'

San Clemente Mayor Pro Tem Gene James explained his feelings on the matter, Tuesday.

“How many reports does the Orange County Grand Jury need to release before the TCA starts to implement long-needed basic reforms?" James wrote in a statement. "Our hard-earned taxpayer dollars aren’t some slush fund to be used by elected officials in other cities to enrich their friends and allies while undermining others, such as myself. It’s time to stop the cronyism of overly generous contract awards, halt the theft of public dollars and prohibit all charitable donations by the TCA."

Patch has reached out to TCA for a statement on the Grand Jury findings and will update this post when that is received.

The city of San Clemente called upon the TCA to implement all recommendations of the Grand Jury, which include:

1. Develop and implement a written plan to pay off all debt by 2040;
2. Eliminate DIFs for any new construction and allow them only to repay the debt; and
3. Merging the two TCA Toll Road agencies to reduce administrative waste.
Furthermore, the City of San Clemente calls on the TCA to stop all political giving and
payment to politically-connected consultants and law firms and conduct an audit of all such
bribes.

"In the past, the TCA and its leadership (which includes elected officials, staff members, and highly-paid outside consultants and lawyers) have fought against any and all recommendations to finally reform the corrupt TCA and prevent the waste of billions of more taxpayer dollars," Ward said. "We hope that they finally stop fighting to maintain its own existence and instead do what’s right for Orange County and its residents."

City News Service contributed to this report.