GRAND TERRACE: Mayor sees city crisis if redevelopment scrapped
Grand Terrace Mayor Walt Stanckiewitz says his city would face "serious consequences" if Gov. Jerry Brown succeeds in closing down local redevelopment agencies throughout California.
"If redevelopment goes away, we are down to considering what we are required by law as an incorporated city, what services, and that's all we would provide," Stanckiewitz said by phone.
Brown has proposed eliminating redevelopment as a way of shoring up the budgets of state-financed programs. Cities, which rely on redevelopment as a way to pay for infrastructure they could not otherwise afford, are showering the state capital with protest letters.
Grand Terrace is using its general fund reserve to pay back about $4.6 million that had been taken from the city's redevelopment agency since the 1990s to balance the general fund, which pays most day-to-day expenses.
"If we didn't have that $4 million debt to deal with, we would weather this," the mayor said of the potential loss of redevelopment money. "But paying back that debt and trying to move forward is almost insurmountable. We are hoping that either this whole proposal gets wiped off the table or some kind of compromise gets worked out and we get some time."
He said the city's dilemma is compounded by the fact that the citywide redevelopment agency raises about $7 million a year and that the money is used to help pay the salaries of 14 of Grand Terrace's 20 employees. The agency is charged for work those employees do on the agency's behalf and none of the city workers receives more than half their pay from redevelopment proceeds.
Stanckiewitz said the city needs to spend at least $20 million on future redevelopment projects, including an overhaul of its storm drain system.
"I've heard stories that they have actually walked through these storm drains underground and the metal casing is gone," the mayor said. "All we have is a circle of dirt. This stuff needs to be addressed. We need redevelopment."
Reach Darrell R. Santschi at 951-368-9484 or dsantschi@PE.com
