The Hollister Redevelopment Agency’s forced transfer of nearly
$5 million to the state is a
”
devastating
”
hit that will likely ground most projects to a halt for a few
years, City Manager Clint Quilter said this week.
The Hollister Redevelopment Agency’s forced transfer of nearly $5 million to the state is a “devastating” hit that will likely ground most projects to a halt for a few years, City Manager Clint Quilter said this week.
Monday, May 10 was the deadline for Hollister and other California cities with redevelopment agencies to transfer a total of $2 billion to the state to help with the budget crisis.
Hollister had to send more than $4.4 million this week and will owe another $1 million or so next year after a Sacramento County Superior Court judge ruled last week that the state was within its rights to take the local redevelopment funds and transfer the money to school budgets this year and next.
“The immediate impact is that’s money that’s not available to do projects,” Quilter said. “For example, we’ll probably have to scale back the Westside project as well as anything we were going to do downtown when the (Hwy. 25) bypass gets relinquished and the route transfer takes place – providing assistance to economic development projects.”
It is unknown whether the state will seek more money from RDA’s in the coming years, Quilter said, but the impact of this action “basically eliminates anything for at least the next three, four or five years” other than the $5 million reconstruction of the downtown fire station and $3 million in planned improvements to the west-side gateway to town. Both projects are being funded through a $20 million bond issuance.
Housing-assistance projects funded by the RDA will continue, Quilter said, because that money was not included in the state transfer.
The California Redevelopment Association (CRA) immediately appealed the court ruling while encouraging that redevelopment agencies make the required payment as the appeal moves forward.
For the full story see the Pinnacle on Friday.
