When you get a bill that is way to low you should ask is this right... but not if your the City of Grand Terrace... You do a happy dance. DUMB
The first low bill came during the Berry Administration. Of course this was also during the Schwab oversight of the budget where both men said the city and the RDA had RESERVES to boast about. The Finance Department Head should have pointed out the odd assessment but hey they are Schwab Hires so who knows what motivates their conduct. City Manager Betsy Adams was the recipient of the second billing which was the second low ball calculation so there was no red flag to indicate there was a reason to investigate the billing.In real life, if you go to the store and buy a fur coat, and the cashier rings up the bill and it is 20.00 instead of the 2000.00 it should be and you pay the 20 and leave doing a happy dance your guilty of a crime. Yes a crime. If you plea that you thought the coat was on sale for 20.00 that argument won't hold in court. You'll either have to pay the remaining 1980.00 or return the coat at a minimum. If there was reason to believe you knew you were under charged you could be convicted of grand theft. So we must continue to recall the moral compass of Schwab/Berry and apparently the Head of the Finance Department has been broken in GT and the GT RDA for a long long time.
To continue to use the RDA to fund the City Employees as a financing plan runs the risk of perpetuation of these same pitfalls. Ending the RDA and learning to live within the budget of what we can really support should be the immediate goal of the City Council. Stop playing the shell game of Debt Bonds and RDA Plans.
Agency taps Grand Terrace for $2.3M
In fiscal years 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, the office of the county auditor, controller and treasurer used the wrong formula to calculate the amount owed by two redevelopment agencies, including Grand Terrace's, that were created before 1989, according Matt Brown, spokesman for the county office.
The other agency that should have had its apportionment computed differently - the Inland Valley Development Agency - owes more than $6.5 million to the water district, according to county records.
"Ultimately, it was human error," Brown said. "Obviously, we accept responsibility."
Brown said county staff had been shuffled and an additional supervisor assigned to prevent such oversights in the future, and re-checking entries confirmed that the error only involved the two redevelopment agencies during those two years.
That leaves Grand Terrace to negotiate a repayment schedule for its newly discovered nearly $2.3 million debt, even as the city struggles to close a deficit in its general fund of roughly $50,000 and growing - equal to about 10percent of that fund.
The payment won't come out of Grand Terrace's general fund - the Redevelopment Agency is a separate city-controlled entity - but it further limits options for a city that is scheduled to review a plan at tonight's City Council meeting that recommends severe cuts.
Most of the city's redevelopment revenues were committed to projects early this year, a tactic council members described at the time as a prudent move in light of Gov. Jerry Brown's plans to disestablish California's redevelopment agencies and honor only existing debts as part of his efforts to balance the state budget.
The status of that plan, which many in the state Legislature opposed, is still undecided.
Worse, according to Mayor Walt Stanckiewitz, is that the error was announced just before the city planned to issue up to $29million in bonds to finance public infrastructure improvements.
"The timing was really bad," Stanckiewitz said. "We're trying to put together a bond offering and this pops up, which we had to make public."
Generally, investors demand higher rates on bonds when cities have higher debts. That means less money in the city's pocket.
A motion to authorize those bonds - which would include storm and drain rehabilitation and so-far-undefined infrastructure work in the southwest area of the city - is also on the agenda for tonight's meeting, which begins at 6.
City Manager Betsy Adams said she anticipates bringing the reported error to the City Council for discussion after city staff members complete their own review, but she is not sure when that will happen.
The news added to the city's already heavy burden, said Councilman Bernardo Sandoval.
"It's just another financial challenge that we will need to overcome," he said. "It's just another financial challenge that we weren't expecting."
