City Council Assumes Redevelopment Responsibilities

The City Council officially took over as the Successor Agency to the soon-to-be-eliminated California Redevelopment Association (CRA) on Tuesday. The Council now has a wealth of responsibilities and costs that were formerly managed by the CRA. The new costs will likely mean cuts to city services and staff, though it’s not yet clear who or what will be impacted.

The Council’s New Responsibilities

The Council is now responsible for affordable housing in Sierra Madre, the creation of a Redevelopment Obligation Retirement Fund and adopting an Enforceable Obligation Payment Schedule (EOPS) every six months. The EOPS is filed with the Los Angeles County and State Department of Finance and covers expenses that would have been handled by the CRA.

On February 1, all of Sierra Madre’s redevelopment properties, leases, contracts and assets will be transferred to the City Council.

There are two properties in Sierra Madre that fell under CRA: Sierra Vista Senior Apartments at 70 Esperanza Ave., and a property at 186 W. Highland Ave.

Impact on the City Budget

Assuming responsibility of the CRA leaves expenses that the city had not budgeted for this fiscal year. The total budget for this year is $1.2 million. So, staff recommended that money come from the city’s General Fund reserves.

To retain all of the city’s current services and fund redevelopment, City Staff estimated there would be an $800,000 hit to General Fund reserves.

The Council, however, moved to only allocate $250,000 from the General Fund to deal with these new costs.

City Staff is now tasked with creating a new budget that will potentially eliminate city jobs and services. The City Council will review the budget at an upcoming meeting.

Related: