LAKE FOREST : County May Provide Funds to New Cities

Faced with the task of setting up a new city government without the legal authority to collect revenues until Dec. 20, the City Council-elect of Lake Forest heard Thursday from Board of Supervisors Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez that the county may be able to provide some financial assistance during the transition period.

During a transition meeting with the five newly elected council members, Vasquez said county budget and tax officials would be exploring whether the county can advance revenues that would eventually go to the city when it officially incorporates Dec. 20.

“I suspect there’s probably some latitude there in the latter stages of the transition period,” Vasquez told the group, which included officials from the county administrative office, the Environmental Management Agency and the Transportation Corridor Agencies.

Laguna Hills, which will become a city Dec. 20, is also exploring financing options, Councilwoman-elect Melody Carruth said in a separate interview.

Lake Forest Councilwoman-elect Helen Wilson, who is the acting spokeswoman for the Lake Forest leaders, said the group is hoping to hire early next month a consultant who would set up the new government and hire a city manager and other top administrators.

“Hopefully, by September or October we would have money,” Wilson said, adding that if the county cannot advance property tax or other revenues, the officials would be able to get a line of credit from a bank.

In Laguna Hills, Carruth said that if the county can provide temporary financing for Lake Forest, she expected that the same could be done for Laguna Hills. But she wondered who would be financially liable since the council members do not take office until the end of the year.

Carruth said the Laguna Hills council-elect is also exploring “tax anticipation bonds” that would be backed by the city’s projected tax revenues. The consultants also could be hired with the promise that they would be paid at the end of the year, the community leaders said.

Because they are not yet in office, the council members are not required to hold public meetings in compliance with state laws that govern public agencies.

The meeting with Vasquez was closed to the news media after preliminary comments, and the Laguna Hills group is also scheduling a series of monthly meetings with its county representative, Supervisor Thomas F. Riley.

But Wilson said the Lake Forest council-elect is planning to hold a round-table discussion with neighborhood association leaders next month, and Laguna Hills will hold a similar workshop in June.