Watsonville City Council has voted to keep its Redevelopment Agency, despite the new California law that dismantles all 400 agencies in the state and redirects their funding to cover the state’s budget deficit. According to the new law, cities that want to keep their RDAs will be required to pay what critics call a “ransom” to the state. In the case of Watsonville, this amounts to an initial payment of $3.2 million, due in January, and an additional $750,000 per year thereafter.
Watsonville City Council has voted to keep its Redevelopment Agency, despite the new California law that dismantles all 400 agencies in the state and redirects their funding to cover the state’s budget deficit. According to the new law, cities that want to keep their RDAs will be required to pay what critics call a “ransom” to the state. In the case of Watsonville, this amounts to an initial payment of $3.2 million, due in January, and an additional $750,000 per year thereafter.
While the initial payment would take a toll on the local agency, it would leave it with roughly $2 million dollars, enough to pay staff salaries and move ahead with façade renovation programs downtown. It will not leave enough for other projects, including a proposed $2 million loan to Sunny Meadows Apartments on Ross Avenue. Work will begin on that project, but at a slower pace than the one year originally planned for it.
The California Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to the constitutionality of the law dissolving the RDAs. The state’s highest legal authority is set to rule on the matter in January—at the same time the initial payments to the state are due. Read more at Santa Cruz Sentinel.
