27 cities have yet to pay a portion or all of their bills to the state, after the Governor demanded billions from former redevelopment agencies. Their cumulative unpaid tab totals more than $123 million.
In many cases, cities have paid as much as they feel they are legally required. They are contesting the actual calculations that the State Department of Finance used in determining how large of a payment they’d have to send to Sacramento. For San Rafael, they sent a check for $148,589 instead of the $1.7 million that the state billed them for. They say the balance was obligated to bond payments and was therefore not available to be sent to cover Sacramento’s general fund shortfalls.
Similar statements have been made by San Jose, where the state billed the City $39 million more than they paid. The difference, once again, was bond payments.
Should the cities and the State not be able to resolve their differences amicably, the law that established the claw back gives the state the authority to withhold sales and property taxes. Those are two of the main revenue sources for local government. However, according to officials at the Department of Finance, that’s a last resort option.
From the Marin Independent Journal:
Gov. Jerry Brown’s finance department said 27 local governments, including San Rafael, have failed to pay or have underpaid the state after the governor tried to sweep up billions of dollars from community redevelopment agencies that were eliminated this year.
Officials reported that the San Rafael Redevelopment Agency had paid only $148,589 of the $1,731,466 it owes the state.
Read the full article here.