Valley College still has $251 million of its construction budget on hold after Los Angeles Community College District Chancellor David LaVista ordered a spending moratorium during an audit of all nine campuses.

The audit was prompted by a six-part series in the L.A. Times that revealed shoddy workmanship, fraud and nepotism in the district. Los Angeles taxpayers are funding the $6.2-billion campus overhaul, where spending is earmarked for construction purposes only and therefore cannot be used to create extra courses or employ additional instructors.

The continued delay may cause Valley to exceed the budget and spark a surge of lawsuits from contractors who have seen their contracts cancelled or delayed, according to Eloy Retamal, the project director at Yang Management—the construction company managing “reVitalizing Valley College.”

“[The] LACCD hired 10 attorneys … just to deal with lawsuits,” said Retamal. Since the moratorium was instated December 2011, Valley’s construction budget is reduced by $38,000 every day due to construction escalation costs. But Retamal predicts additional costs once the projects pass the 2015 deadline.

The financial audit ordered by LaVista will be presented during a board of trustees meeting April 25, according to Valley President Sue Carleo. “We’re actively pushing for a release, but there have been requests for additional information.”

The request was met with a 580-page document addressing budget, space and maintenance issues. The document demonstrates Valley’s construction vision, including the decrepit bungalows and the need for funding to be released.

A follow-up letter dated Feb. 14 and addressed to Chancellor LaVista has resulted in no response. The lack of dialog between the LACCD and Valley has frustrated Retamal. “Not one phone call [has been made from the LACCD] to inquire about the case of proving that we’ve done proper planning and have real needs. The argument has gone nowhere.”

On April 12, the LACCD gave the green light to five of Valley’s projects but later rescinded on two. Now, Retamal only has funding cleared to start on the Multi- Purpose Community Service Center, parking structure and campus infrastructure. Although green-lit, Valley is still waiting on an early release of funds to start construction on the parking structure, which is legally required to comply with environmental and infrastructure requirements.

Valley is still engaged in litigation with the construction company FTR International, but the case now includes multiple colleges in the district. FTR was hired under a $48-million contract to build Valley’s Allied Health and Sciences Center. Following the L.A. Times’ investigation, FTR was banned for five years from future projects with the LACCD in a ruling that was later overturned by the Los Angeles County Superior Court. It has not yet been decided whether Valley will be involved in a trial or the case can be resolved by mediation alone, but Valley has hired special attorneys to see the campus through the process, according to Carleo.