Politics & Government

State Budget Denounced by Temecula Officials Vetoed

The plan would rob Temecula of its greatest wealth-building tool.

Wednesday California lawmakers passed a state budget that was sent swiftly on its way to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk for what turned out to be a prompt veto today.

It's back to the drawing table for legislators, but one of the fiercest policy debates in Sacrimento was about dismantling redevelopment agencies.

The plan would rob Temecula of its carefully managed funds, Temecula officials said during a February meeting.

Find out what's happening in Temeculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

To read about the meeting, .

Not everyone supports redevelopment agencies. They are a scam that gives out tax money unfairly, said Robert Wheeler, who holds a PhD in economics.

Find out what's happening in Temeculawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I see redevelopment as the biggest scam in California,” Wheeler said during a February city council meeting. “I support the governor whole-heartedly, and I wish you would, too.”

Some residents said they felt the redevelopment agency abused the funds.

Redevelopment is a process that allows local government, under the auspice of local redevelopment agencies to use increased property tax to obtain and repay bonds that cover the cost of projects in blighted areas.

Projects in Temecula funded by redevelopment money includes the, the Overland Drive bridge, contributions to opening the Cal State San Marcos Temecula campus, the parking garage at the Promenade mall and the I-15 interchange with Winchester Road. The agency is also set to give $1.8 million to the school district over the next 19 years.

Two bills that address redevelopment were included in Thursday's budget package: ABX1 26, which eliminates redevelopment agencies and creates successor agencies; and ABX1 27, which states that agencies that make annual payments into the General Fund -- to the tune of $1.7 billion collectively -- are exempt from elimination. The annual payments for cities and counties would be calculated by the Department of Finance.

Standing in opposition to the bills are the California Redevelopment Association and the League of California Cities, which announced they are considering a legal challenge if the bills pass.

“We have been preparing for this contingency and have a legal team on board and ready to take action. The legal team’s review of ABX1 26 and ABX1 27 has already found a long list of challengeable issues,” according to a statement Wednesday from the California Redevelopment Association. Click here to see the issues.

On Thursday morning, Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries (R-Lake Elsinore) painted a picture of the situation in Sacramento yesterday.

"RDAs were effectively eliminated for about five minutes before the legislature immediately re-created them after taking $1.7 billion from locals and dumping the money in the black hole of the state General Fund," the assemblyman said. "We had a real opportunity to reform RDAs so that they would focus on public infrastructure projects and prevent future abuses of eminent domain and giveaways, but instead the state simply took the money and rejected meaningful reforms."

A March report from the state Controller's Office blasted some of California’s redevelopment agencies. To read the report, click on the photo gallery.

The criticisms pointed out loose definitions for what constitutes a blighted area, failing to pay about $33 million owed to the state's public schools, poor tracking when it comes to the number of jobs created by redevelopment projects, accounting deficiencies, questionable payroll practices, faulty loans and the inappropriate use of affordable housing funds. 

Riverside County Supervisor Bob Buster, 1st District, said he believes the county's main redevelopment priorities should be creating new jobs and improving health care.

“Given that majority Democratic legislators would have siphoned off hundreds of millions from local redevelopment coffers to balance the budget, we can still expect significant reforms to redevelopment in the bi-partisan compromises that are now necessary to gain the Governor’s signoff," he said.


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