Time runs out for cities

A state program that got its start in the wake of World War II comes to an end Wednesday, and with it likely goes key aspects of what many have come to expect from our local governments.

State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, a Sacramento Democrat, said Thursday that there are not enough votes to pass a stop-gap measure to postpone until mid-April the Feb. 1 deadline for cities and counties to abolish their redevelopment agencies. That leaves Fairfield and hundreds of other cities across the state holding the bag.

Fairfield leaves $82.3 million in loan principle ($19.9 million) and interest ($62.4 million) on the table, money the city had factored into future budgets. Fairfield may recoup some of this money through a successor agency as property owned by the redevelopment agency is sold, but there’s no guarantee.

Likely gone are an array of community programs that Solano County residents have come to love, from the Fourth of July Parade in Fairfield and accompanying fireworks in Suisun City, to the Tomato Festival in Fairfield, the Medieval Fantasy Festival in Vacaville and the local Veterans Day Parade.

The state’s action also puts the brakes on a host of programs offered by Solano County’s cities, such as first-time homebuyer and foreclosure assistance programs. There’s also the ripple effect: As Fairfield and other cities lose redevelopment money, their already-strained general funds will be pinched even tighter. There will be less general fund money to support a wide array of programs, from recreational activities for youth to senior center operations — and everything in between.

City Councilman John Mraz raised this very concern this week during a workshop at the Fairfield Senior Center with Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, but to no apparent avail.

It didn’t have to be this way.

The state for years borrowed money — by means of legislation — from local redevelopment agencies to help balance its own books. Much of the money that was taken was used to meet the state’s financial obligation to education.

Voters in November 2010 approved Proposition 22 by a nearly 2-1 margin. The proposition banned state raids on local redevelopment funds. The measure was placed on the ballot as a direct result of the state’s unwillingness to get its financial house in order.

The Legislature and newly re-elected Gov. Jerry Brown, unwilling to bend to the will of the voters, put an end redevelopment altogether — unless the cities and counties agreed to “play ball” and pony up big bucks each year to the state.

It seems clear that the Legislature’s intent was to force the cities and counties to willingly give up the protection granted to them by the electorate.

We all know what followed: Cities sued, and the state Supreme Court upheld the Legislature’s right to end redevelopment but struck down the “pay-to-play” provision as a violation of Proposition 22.

So now we watch as redevelopment ends and the next phase of local government begins.

One thing is certain: The face of local government will change in coming weeks and months. We can only hope this new government is one we can all live with.

Short URL: http://www.dailyrepublic.com/?p=130773

Posted by Daily Republic on Jan 29 2012.

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