The cash-strapped Los Angeles Community College District may use revenue from two construction bond measures to pay $400,000 a year to outside public relations consultants to guide its marketing campaign.

The district has paid $395,000 out of its general fund for each of the last four years to public relations giant Fleishman-Hillard to help "increase the visibility of the district and public awareness," said Blair Sillers, assistant to Chancellor Mark Drummond.

The contract is in addition to the $340,000 in salaries the district already pays to its own public relations staff and those at Valley, Pierce, Mission and Harbor community colleges.

Officials expect to renew the Fleishman-Hillard contract in September, Sillers said, and use the consultant to update the public about projects being built under the $2 billion Proposition A and AA bond measures.

However, trustees want to shift the expense from the general fund to the bond fund, which is funded by property tax hikes voters approved to upgrade and modernize the nine campuses. The district's bond counsel says the expense would be legal, Sillers said.

"Marketing is an important component of being successful, whether you're selling widgets or education," Sillers said. "We're in a competitive market, and people need to know what our product is."

But Kris Vosburgh, executive director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, called all of the district's PR efforts "an utter waste of taxpayers' dollars and an extreme violation of the taxpayers' trust."

"People don't want to pay higher property taxes so the community college district can pay for self-aggrandizement," he said.

In the past, Fleishman-Hillard has produced pamphlets and newsletters for the district, managed ground-breaking ceremonies and worked with officials on opinion pieces for the print media, said board member and former President Warren Furutani.

Now that the the two most recent bond issues have been passed, the district is obligated, under Proposition 39, to keep the public informed of how the money is being spent, Sillers said.

But the state's $38 billion budget crisis resulted in a $19 million cut -- 4.5 percent -- in the LACCD's $438 million operating budget. Classes have been cut by 8 percent to 10 percent at the colleges, which are struggling with soaring enrollment demand, and fees have gone up sharply.

"We are scrutinizing their contract and making sure this coming year will provide the level of marketing and public relations that is appropriate for the public, who deserves to know what is being done with their tax dollars," said Community College District board President Mona Field.

"It is better for the students to have this come out of bond money. We've just got to make sure we don't use Fleishman-Hillard for non-bond-related issues."