[img]1792|right|Jim Clarke||no_popup[/img]As the recently discussed financial emergency in the city’s Housing Division burns on, City Councilman Jim Clarke talked about whether a previous Council is to blame for the crisis. They did not seem to practice prudence.
Housing runs on a $1.2 million annual budget, and they have just enough in their coffers to survive until the end of the fiscal year, June 30.
Mr. Clarke noted that previous Councils bypassed building affordable housing, a onetime expense, in favor of sponsoring ongoing programs that need to be regularly refueled fiscally.
When Gov. Brown outlawed redevelopment agencies several years ago, that instantly dried up a wide stream of hometown government revenue.
Did previous Councils put today’s Council members in an awkward position?
“This was a question I asked the city manager (John Nachbar), and he answered,” said Mr. Clarke. “It never is a good idea to fund ongoing programs when you don’t have a defined ongoing source of revenue you can count on. That never is a good position to be in.”
There also was a matter of a hefty intrafamily debt.
“On the other hand,” said the Councilman, “there was a pot of about $40 million the Redevelopment Agency owed back to the elements for the Housing.
“Redevelopment projects were set-aside areas for 30 years. At the end of 30 years, Redevelopment areas would expire. We knew it was going to end,” Mr. Clarke said. “We just didn’t know it was going to be this soon.
“The thought was that $40 million would last quite a long time.”
(To be continued)
