With the signing of the new state budget, Gov. Gavin Newsom brought $24.5 million in funding back to the Orange County Veterans Cemetery project, but questions still linger over what will be the next steps in its development.
The funding was originally pulled in Newsom’s proposed budget in May. In that version, the only funds remaining were $700,000 to study two sites for the cemetery’s proposed location.
The $24.5 million is intended to partially fund construction of the cemetery, with plans to obtain federal and private funding to complete the rest of the development, which is currently projected to cost, by one estimate, as much as $90 million. With a site settled for now, other elements of the plan still remain murky, including when construction could start or even when the state will actually invest the money set aside.
After renegotiation with the state Legislature, the funds were left in the account. According to Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva, a Democrat, the money was never taken from the Department of Veterans Affairs during negotiations.
“It was (Newsom’s) proposal, and then the assembly and senate negotiated back what he had taken out because that money was allocated the year before,” Quirk-Silva said.