The U.S. Navy still owes over $44 million to the city of Tustin after one of their old hangars burned down last November, scattering asbestos and other toxic materials for over a mile surrounding the base that cost the city millions to clean up.
While city leaders took over paying for cleanup in the early days of the disaster to get asbestos cleaned up, it was with a promise that the Navy would be coming in with funds to pay for the cleanup of their property.
“Ultimately this is Navy cost, but the city has stepped in,” said Tustin Mayor Austin Lumbard in a December interview. “We’re the ones making the contracts, we’re the response, but we’re acting on behalf of the Navy.”
But that money isn’t coming in quite as fast as city leaders expected.
So far, the Navy has sent the city $11 million of the $55 million check, leaving a $44 million void in the city budget, which represents over a quarter of the city’s total funds they’re projected to have by the end of the fiscal year in June.
It’s a situation city leaders say can’t continue.
“We already pulled $7.8 million from our reserves,” Lumbard said in an interview last month. “My expectation is they fully fund the contracts in the near term … the city is tired of hearing about bureaucratic obstacles.”
But there’s no timeline on when that money could be coming in, and Navy spokesman Bill Franklin declined to offer one when asked by Voice of OC.
“The Navy understands that additional funds are required, and is working with the City to determine additional funding requirements,” Franklin said in a statement.
But it’s not clear how long the city can last without those funds, with city spokeswoman Stephanie Najera saying that city staff are still trying to figure out what they can do if the money isn’t repaid by the end of the fiscal year in June.
“We are determining that as we speak, and Council has directed staff to explore all avenues of external and internal alternative funding sources,” Najera said in a statement. “These plans are being put together now … and will be shared at the February 6th council meeting.”
The delay in funding also comes as county assessor Claude Parrish is conducting a review of the property value for the neighborhoods surrounding the fire, which could end with homeowners losing property value and lowering their property tax.
“This is a disaster,” said County Assessor Claude Parrish in an interview last month. “You think anyone’s going to want to buy your home right now? No, it’s economic damage.”
[Read: Orange County Assessor: Tustin Fire Could Tank Property Values]
At last night’s city council meeting, city leaders said they’re still waiting for Governor Gavin Newsom to declare an emergency over the hangar, adding there was no timeline on the future cleanups beyond some air monitoring.
It’s also unlikely that the $54 million will be the end of the cleanup according to Najera, who said the future costs are still unknown.
“We certainly don’t have all of them currently,” she said. “But some significant costs that will run in the millions of dollars include the exterior soil and interior air/dust study, ongoing air surveillance and monitoring and debris clearance.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
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