The Ventura County Star is reporting a familiar story being played out throughout California. Redevelopment agencies have been attempting to merge their zones or areas into a single massive redevelopment area.
According to the Ventura County Star, Simi Valley merged three redevelopment areas into one last June. Ventura County objected and has sued. The County claims the area is not blighted.
Sound familiar? It should! Fullerton has done the same thing with their massive merger of redevelopment areas.
The Fullerton Redevelopment Agency merged areas in 2009 and was sued by the County of Orange as well as a local resident and businessman. Fullerton ended up paying millions for their greed to the County in property tax revenue that the County was going lose. Over the next 45 years, the City could pay out as much as $500-million.
Many of these legal battles may not be fought in the courtroom at all. The California Supreme Court has been asked by the State's 425 redevelopment agencies to overturn the state legislation passed earlier this year which abolishes all redevelopment agencies unless they pay a "fee" to cover some of the lost revenue.
It's somewhat satisfying to watch agencies fight one another over taxes. The Cities, through their redevelopment agencies are like little Tea Parties trying to pay as little in taxes as possible. It's really quite funny until you realize its all OUR money. The City, County, and State took my money, squandered most of it on "overhead", and then gave what was left to another agency...
Special thanks to Redevelopment.us for bringing this story to my attention.
For more on Fullerton's Redevelopment Agency, CLICK HERE.
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