While the suddenly prominent state Dept. of Finance has emerged, stealthily, from the bureaucratic shadows, it is dinging 19 Orange County cities, and the county, for a hefty $263 million in unused funds set aside for low- and moderate-income housing, City Hall took a considerably lighter hit.
When Gov. Brown killed off more than 400 hometown Redevelopment Agencies 11 months ago as a means of channeling other peoples’ monies into the state’s always-hungry coffers, in Culver City, the City Council acted swiftly during the several-months’ warning period. They spent Agency funds.
The result was that when the Dept. of Finance pounded on City Hall’s door, the most they could justify demanding for the insatiable beast was a relatively light $279,055.
“Culver City did not disagree with the $279,055,” Chief Financial Officer Jeff Muir told the newspaper this morning. “We did not request a meet-and-confer. We paid that amount to the County sometime back.
For Culver City, It Is Over. Maybe.
“From my perspective, the issue of the former Housing cash is closed.
“But we have been remarkably surprised during this process by how things we think are closed, are not.
“Time will tell,” he said.
It was just about this time last year that the state Supreme Court certified the brazen twin moves by the state Legislature and Gov. Brown to kill Redevelopment Agencies that especially served small towns and to justify reaching into those towns’ already hurting pockets for all cash that was green.
Mr. Muir notes that last year’s AB 26/AB 1484 required all successor agencies to have an independent auditor come perform a series of, ahem, “agreed upon procedures” in looking at former RDA Low/Mod Housing Funds.
“We did this,” he said, “and the report found that we were to pay $279,055 in former Housing funds to the County for distribution to taxing entities.
“This report was approved by the Oversight Board and submitted to the County and the state Dept. of Finance. The DOF did not make further adjustments to our number. They issued a letter agreeing with our number.
“The law allowed agencies that disagreed with whatever number was approved by DOF to request a ‘meet-and-confer’ process. This involved meetings with the state and presenting your arguments. The state was legally required to provide their decisions at the end of last week.”
