7:01am | Long Beach elected officials plan to speak out at a 3 p.m. public address at City Hall in response to the governor’s request early Wednesday evening that state legislators hold off on voting on his state budget proposal, the Long Beach Post has learned.
Gov. Jerry Brown’s press secretary, Gil Duran, issued a statement Wednesday just after 5 p.m. calling for budget negotiations to continue “following positive and productive” talks between Brown and legislators from both parties.
“Governor Brown has continued to engage in positive and productive budget discussions with legislators on both sides of the aisle,” Duran said. “For this reason, he has asked the pro tem and the speaker to temporarily delay any vote on the budget in order to allow more time to find common ground and to put the state’s finances back in balance.”
It had been speculated that Sacramento lawmakers could vote on the controversial budget package that aims to close a $26.6 billion budget deficit as early as today.
Among the most contentious items included in the fiscal plan is the elimination of California’s redevelopment program, which diverts a portion of property taxes back to cities to fund activities that eliminate blight, spark economic development and create affordable housing. Under the plan, the state’s 398 redevelopment agencies, which collectively spend about $5.5 billion annually on efforts to revitalize their communities, would be liquidated, their assets sold to the highest bidder and their funding used to subsidize other state programs.
Should the budget be passed as is, $1.7 billion in funding that would have gone to redevelopment agencies next year would instead be used to fund Medi-Cal and the courts system.
Elected officials from cities statewide have mounted a massive campaign denouncing the plan to terminate redevelopment, a program that, while in some cities appears to be mismanaged, is largely viewed as a vital tool that the California Redevelopment Association and legal counselors alike contend violates the state constitution, which was amended last year after the passing of Proposition 22.
Prop. 22 bars the state from raiding local governments’ coffers by borrowing or withholding tax revenues and funds that have been allocated to local government, public safety and transportation.
The Long Beach City Council and local redevelopment officials have been vocal in their opposition to dissolving the state’s redevelopment agencies in order to address the state’s irresponsible budgeting practices. It is likley that this afternoon’s public address will feature council members and the mayor focusing heavily on the need to maintain redevelopment in Long Beach and statewide.
Earlier this week, the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency Board voted to transfer control of about $180 million worth of property and other assets to the city to protect it from being auctioned off should the plan to nix redevelopment go through. The City Council the following day voted unanimously to accept control of the 222 properties and assets.
About 40 percent of Long Beach lies within a redevelopment project area, and proponents said that redevelopment activities create about 5,700 local jobs annually.
Former Ninth District Councilman val Lerch said last week that from 2002 to 2010, the redevelopment agency invested more than $101 million in teh North Long Beach Project Area, which he said generated $156 million in business revenue and created more than 1,200 local jobs.
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