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Two years after state leaders set up a fund to buy land near military bases, nearly $15 million is in the bank and not a single check is in the mail.

Eight Tucson landowners, including a local church, were approved in April for $6 million worth of buyouts from the state Military Installation Fund. But so far, none of them have seen the money, and they aren't likely to until next year.

Meanwhile, Tucson City Hall also has come away empty-handed in the process. The city sought $300,000 from the military fund to study the feasibility of a noise-proofing program for homeowners near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

"We realize there are some impatient people wondering what is going on," said Mike Klier, assistant deputy director of Arizona's Department of Veterans' Services, which now oversees the buyouts.

Delays resulted when responsibility for the land purchases was transferred to Veterans' Services from a different state department, he said. It also took time to develop rules for how the money would be spent and to create legal authority for the state to buy the land.

Klier now expects the checks to go out in early 2007, once appraisals are done on the Tucson properties.

The military fund was set up in 2004 to help protect the future viability of Arizona's bases, a major source of jobs in the state.

Plans called for the state to set aside nearly $5 million a year for 20 years. The money is to be used to buy land near bases or for other efforts that enhance the military's operating ability or reduce conflicts with civilian neighbors.

Tucson retiree Patrick Callahan, 58, applied to the state last November for a $1.3 million buyout of 6 1/2 acres he owns in the Rita Ranch area, southeast of D-M.

Callahan and his wife — a restaurant server with no retirement plan — originally bought 10 acres in 1995 for $125,000 in hopes of supplementing their retirement income.

"I'm not a developer," he said. "I hocked my house to get this property."

The couple spent another $200,000 through the years to service and subdivide the land, he said. They'd sold a few of the lots when the city passed strict new land-use rules in the area, which sits under a main flight corridor used by D-M aircraft.

The new rules banned many types of development. Callahan said that left him stuck with land that suddenly was hard to sell.

The state's military commission agreed and recommended that his unsold acreage be purchased with money from the new state fund.

That was seven months ago. Ever since, Callahan said, he's been passed from one state agency to another as he tries to find out when he and others will be paid.

"I've been waiting so long, it's almost comical," he said.

Callahan's land is next door to Crosspoint Community Church in Rita Ranch, which was approved for a $3.2 million buyout — the largest approved so far by the state.

The church, at 7901 S. Rita Road, found itself in conflict with the new land rules too, unable to carry out planned expansions of its facilities.

Church officials could not be reached for comment.

The Vail School District also is awaiting a $535,000 payment from the new state fund. The cash will be spent to help move Vail High School about a mile away from its current location at 9040 S. Rita Road. That will take it out of the D-M flight zone of greatest concern.

"We want to do our part to protect the future of D-M, and if that means moving the school, then we are certainly going to cooperate with that," Vail Superintendent Calvin Baker said.

The state commission that decides who gets the money put a hold on the city of Tucson's request for $300,000 for a noise-proofing study. State officials said they needed more information to properly assess the request.

The city needs to better show how the study would lead to concrete, measurable benefits, the state commissioners said.

They also want to know how a noise-proofing program for homes near D-M would dovetail with an existing similar program for homes near Tucson International Airport.

City Planning Director Albert Elias said city staff members plan to resubmit the application with the requested information.