TRAFFIC-EASING FUNDS IDLING SCATHING AUDIT A 'ROAD MAP' TO JUMP-START PROJECTS.

Byline: Dan Laidman Staff Writer

More than $12 million in city funds earmarked to help ease traffic congestion and add parking are ``gathering dust'' amid flawed fiscal management, according to an audit released Thursday.

In an audit of special accounts maintained by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, City Controller Laura Chick said more than $5 million in traffic-mitigation funds and $7.8 million in a parking fund are not being used.

``There is something very wrong with this picture,'' Chick said in a prepared statement.

The department manages 81 special revenue funds that as of June 30, 2005, held $365 million. The audit reviewed three - including the Warner Center Transportation Improvement Trust Fund, which collects fees from development projects in the area to use on traffic improvements, and a fund that collects parking fees to use for parking facilities and meters.

Transportation officials agreed with the audit's findings, although they said the city is not in danger of losing the money.

``(The funds are) not being used immediately but we have plans to use the money,'' said Wayne Moore, assistant general manager at the Department of Transportation. ``Maybe the solution is quicker implementation of programs and other projects to get the money out much faster. But we do have plans to spend everything that's been collected.''

Factors beyond the city's control might make it difficult to spend the money more quickly, Moore said, noting that projects often also are affected by state and county funding.

``There have been a lot of factors that impact the flow of funds into transportation projects and that affects the plans we had to use these funds,'' he said.

Transportation officials said they will work to implement the audit's recommendations, which include stepped-up monitoring and controls to ensure that funds are used for their designated purposes.

Auditors said such action is necessary because some traffic-mitigation funds have not been properly separated, leading to some money being used for other purposes than was originally intended.

In a letter to the mayor and City Council, Chick also recommended that the city examine a larger policy issue of which special funds it maintains and for what purposes.

``In an era of trying to increase use of public transportation, why are we collecting and allocating millions of public dollars to create more parking garages, especially when many owned by the city already are underused?'' Chick wrote.

``Why are we predominantly mitigating traffic impacts from new developments by widening streets and synchronizing traffic signals?''

Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who chairs the Transportation Committee, called the audit a ``road map'' for the council.

Greuel said she suspects that the Department of Transportation is using outdated methods for deciding how to collect and use development fees, and that she plans to introduce a motion on the matter.

``Things have changed and we need to bring the department up to the level of today's problems with traffic,'' Greuel said. ``We are going to ask the department to provide for us the information as to where this money is and how we should be spending it.''

Dan Laidman, [phone]

dan.laidman(at)dailynews.com