Governor Brown passed AB1x 26 last year, which went into effect on January 1, 2012. This eliminated all city and community Redevelopment Agencies (RDA) and set rules for where the tax money collected from redeveloped properties is supposed to go.
Because this law was hastily passed without any details about how it is supposed to work, the State Assembly put together AB1484, as a follow up to clarify the requirements for Successor Agencies and Oversight Boards. Brown signed AB1484 into law in June of 2012, but the Assembly is still making changes to it.
At the first meeting of the Oversight Board on April 5, 2012 the Board added $50,000 for legal counseling to the Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule (ROPS) and $250,000 for administration.
The State Department of Finance rejected the Oversight Board's taking $50K from the ROPS; so this expense will come from another budget. Pat Boom is worried that the State will take away any money for staff even if not coming from the ROPS, which would leave the Committee unable to function.
San Ramon's Economic Development Director, Marc Fontes, who is also Vice-Chair of the RDA Successor Agency Oversight Board, gave a summary of AB1484 at the August 13, 2012 meeting.
Fontes told the Board that AB1484 is up to 100 pages and is now a portion of the Budget Bill. There are three different summaries of the bill. The State Assembly keeps adding or changing what is in this bill, making it a moving target.
I asked Marc Fontes for more information on AB1484, and he gave me a copy of a presentation by Michael P. Busch, President of Urban Futures, Inc. and Mark J. Huebsch, Shareholder, Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth Attorneys at Law. The presentation outlines due dates set by the Department of Finance (DOF) for specific deliverables, but I'm not sure exactly what all of the jargon means.
October 15, 2012 is the "Deadline for the Oversight Board to review, approve, and transmit a housing fund Due Diligence Review (DDR) conducted by a licensed accountant (who must be approved by the County Auditor-Controller)."
Eva Phelps, the City's Director of Administrative Services, told the Board they need to find an accountant to do the audit, but she added, "We're waiting for the requirements but it keeps changing." Pat Boom replied, "That's the frustration I have with the process. If it costs us too much money, we need to think what our options are."
January 15, 2013 is the "Deadline for the Oversight Board to review, approve, and transmit a non-housing fund DDR." As far as I know the only non-housing asset owned by the RDA Successor Agency is the Mudd's Restaurant property. The Board was planning to have Mudd's appraised before putting it up for sale. Pat Boom said, "We're not paying for an appraisal if we're not getting money for the property."
