Following a series of critical articles in the L.A. Times describing gross financial misconduct during the remodeling of the district’s nine campuses, the Los Angeles Community College District is now looking to create a $160-million reserve fund for unexpected expenses and future lawsuits.

The fund is to be paid for by the colleges in amounts varying from Mission College’s $14 million to East Los Angeles College’s $22 million. Valley College’s contribution to the fund is expected to be $21 million, according to a LACCD memo. As the construction progresses and the associated budgetary risks lessen, the funds will slowly be funneled back to the colleges.

Asking voters for another tax increase to pay for the reserve fund is not likely.

“Impossible,” said Project Director Eloy Retamal from Yang Management, Valley’s construction management company. “With all the bad press, the voters won’t vote for another tax increase.”

Instead, Valley will divert funds from the construction projects that would entail expanding the current student capacity or building square-footage, said Valley President Sue Carleo. Funding for any project that exceeds the current campus capacity is still tangled up in the LACCD funding freeze.

“It has been a very slow process, and it is very frustrating for us,” said Carleo about the halted construction. The funding freeze is also jeopardizing the current favorable buying rate of construction materials as well as labor.

“The market place will not be in our favor the longer we wait,” Carleo said.

The original $6-billion project to modernize existing buildings and construct new sustainable buildings is funded by several property tax-increase measures. The funds are earmarked for construction- related expenses only, and cannot be used to increase the number of courses or instructors.

Since the spending freeze was imposed in December 2011, Valley has remained in limbo regarding the release of $251 million pending the result of a state audit ordered by LACCD Chancellor David LaVista. Before starting any construction, Valley spent 18 months developing a comprehensive Master Plan for the entire campus. This has resulted in a disproportionately large sum for the remaining projects that Valley has tied up in the freeze, compared to other campuses that began construction immediately.

Since construction started in 2002, all Valley campus buildings except the bungalows have undergone some level of renovation, such as improved bathrooms, flooring and windows. Nine buildings have been demolished and rebuilt using materials sorted and reused from the demolition rubble.

Currently, Valley only has permission to move ahead with building the new garage structure and the Multi-Purpose Community Service Center. Valley has sought an early release of funds to start construction on 11 projects, and the status of this request is expected to be released May 23 at the LACCD board meeting.

The construction on the Library and Academic Resource Center will be completed in early June and is expected to welcome students for the fall 2012 semester. Landscaping activities will continue over summer break, as well as the erection of a 4-foot guard fence between Burbank Boulevard and the irrigation ditch.