MTA ASKS FOR LOAN FROM CTC FUNDS WOULD COVER SHORTFALL.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

Hoping to keep alive $1.5 billion in San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles County transportation projects, the MTA wants to borrow $317 million to cover the state's promised allocations and be reimbursed by Sacramento once California's budget crisis subsides.

With budget cuts likely for its San Fernando Valley Transitway, Eastside Light Rail and the purchase of nearly 200 buses, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority hopes to convince the California Transportation Commission to approve the loan plan when the panel meets next week.

``You can either run screaming and bring everything to a standstill or figure out how to keep it moving,'' said Jeff Morales, director of the state Department of Transportation. ``That's what we were able to do with the MTA and why we're so supportive of it.''

``It should be a model for everybody around the state,'' he said. ``When we identified the funding problems, we asked all the regional agencies to work with us to set priorities and keep the projects moving forward. This is exactly what MTA did. ... They've stepped up more aggressively than anyone else in the state.''

The MTA faces a May deadline to award construction contracts for the $329 million transitway, so the commission's April 3 vote is critical.

The MTA also could lose nearly $500 million in federal matching funds for the Eastside line if the state funds are cut, and it needs to buy $127 million for buses required to relieve overcrowding.

``The stakes are so high here, the cost to taxpayers so much more if the projects are delayed or scuttled,'' said MTA spokesman Marc Littman.

MTA is drawing on legislation authored a decade ago by then-Assemblyman Richard Katz, a Valley Democrat, that allows agencies to finance approved projects when state money is scarce.

``It was exactly what we intended to do - to allow local agencies to be creative if the state was having funding (shortfalls) and allow these local projects to move forward,'' said Katz, now a board member of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association.

``MTA and the folks at VICA have been working hard to be creative to keep this on track.''

CTC Executive Director Diane Eidam said the agency's staff was expected to recommend today whether it should approve the loan.

Originally, the MTA had asked the state to reimburse the loan in two cash payments, in fiscal 2005-06 and 2006-07. But commissioners prefer in-kind payments, because cash payments become binding as budget priorities, while in-kind payments can be postponed.

A revised proposal seeks a $21 million in-kind payment in fiscal 2003-04; in-kind and cash payments totaling $120.8 million in 2005-06; and cash payments of $43.8 million annually from fiscal 2006-07 through 2009-10.

The in-kind payments could be used to complete the 101-405 freeway interchange improvements, though the MTA has not yet recommended how to apply potential payments.

The MTA is expected to spend $15 million to $25 million to finance the loan, at interest rates of 3 percent to 5 percent. Being able to secure the low bid on the transitway project before it expires in May would make up for costs, officials said.

The Valley's 14-mile east-west busway between North Hollywood and Warner Center is expected to go under construction in spring, bring 9,000 jobs to the region and open in 2005.