Effort to Free Funds for Court Branch Fails

Attempts to correct a bureaucratic error have failed, causing another delay in constructing a Santa Ana branch of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, federal officials said Wednesday.

Mary Filippini, spokeswoman for the federal General Services Administration in San Francisco, said Wednesday that the agency’s lawyers had determined that the original source of funds for the building could not be used.

Last week the Orange County Board of Supervisors, unaware of any problems with the project, approved a 10-year lease with the federal government. The lease covered the property at the southwest corner of the Civic Center in Santa Ana, where the new branch, a temporary facility, would be built.

But a day after the supervisors acted, it was announced that GSA lawyers in Washington had determined that the $3 million needed to put up the modular building was earmarked from a fund that is essentially for personal property, not construction. That set off a scramble to see if other funds could be found by Monday night, when the federal government’s fiscal year ended.

“The final decision we got . . . is although it’s embarrassing to GSA and everybody else involved, they don’t want to sign a lease that isn’t legal, which is perfectly understandable,” said Duane Crumb, an aide to Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton). There was a slight chance that Congress might appropriate the money before adjourning for Christmas, Crumb said.

Filippini said the court “is still a top-priority project.”

Thomas F. Riley, chairman of the board of supervisors, said the delay was a “disappointment,” and added that he would discuss the matter with Dannemeyer during a four-day visit by Riley to Washington, which begins today.