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Council moves ahead with SRA dissolution
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City officials plan to meet with attorneys as they move forward with dissolving the Sonora Redevelopment Agency before the Feb. 1 deadline.
City Administrator Tim Miller gave a presentation at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting outlining the requirements of legislation signed into law last year that eliminates all local redevelopment agencies in the state. The city must dissolve its redevelopment agency by Feb. 1 as mandated by the legislation, which includes identifying assets, revenues and debt obligations. The city or county that developed the redevelopment agency will be its successor, which, in the case of the Sonora Redevelopment Agency, is the City of Sonora, Miller said. The successor agency will be tasked with duties that include disposing of assets and establishing repayment terms for its more than $4 million in total debt. The city will still receive a portion of the property tax revenues to pay back. An oversight board comprised of representatives from local taxing agencies, including the city, county, schools and special districts, must be formed by May 1. The board will have to approve most actions of the successor agency. The city must also decide whether it will maintain the redevelopment agency’s low-income housing program. It must give up more than $700,000 in the program’s reserve fund and will not receive money for administration costs, Miller said. If it chooses not to maintain the program, the state’s Housing and Community Development Department will take it over. A bill recently introduced by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-San Fernando Valley, proposes extending the deadline for cities to April 15, but Miller advised the council to begin the process anyway given the approaching deadline and the fact the governor hasn’t indicated he will consider the legislation. Miller and other city officials will meet with attorneys at the firm Best Best & Krieger to identify assets and determine a course of action, which they will present to the city council at a special meeting on Jan. 30 when the redevelopment agency will be dissolved. “It’s sort of like they’re taking the lion and leaving us with the share,” said Councilman Hank Russell. The council also heard a presentation regarding the city’s financial report for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011. The city’s general fund revenues were up 2.5 percent over those in 2010. The small increase was largely the result of a pass-through payment made by the city’s redevelopment agency and the transient occupancy tax rate increase that went into effect Oct. 1, 2010, according to the report. Sales tax revenues remained close to what they were in 2010, which Finance Director Karen Stark said was a “positive note” in the face of an economic downturn. The council also: • Approved a plan to set a special joint meeting of the city council, Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors and Tuolumne County Economic Development Authority for a California Association for an economic development forum at 9 a.m. Friday at the Sonora Oaks Conference Center at 19551 Hess Ave. in East Sonora. • Adopted an urgency ordinance which grants designated Level One status to the city’s reserve police officers so they can continue to perform their usual duties. The council approved a similar resolution at its previous meeting, but the state government said it was supposed to be an ordinance. • Accepted a $1,000 Walmart Foundation Grant and authorized Sonora Fire Chief Michael Barrows to use the money for purchasing new emergency response communications equipment. • Presented awards to several city officials and employees for their years of service, including Cheryl Shinoda-Broughton, Rachelle Kellogg, Bill Atkins and Michael Barrows. |
