{"id":2729,"date":"2012-11-28T00:53:02","date_gmt":"2012-11-28T00:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/?p=2729"},"modified":"2012-11-28T22:22:21","modified_gmt":"2012-11-28T22:22:21","slug":"what-the-city-and-wareham-development-can-be-thankful-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesecretnewsonline.com\/?p=2729","title":{"rendered":"What the City, and Wareham Development, Can be Thankful For"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finance Committee Update: Sales Tax Asset, Cheaper Fire Services, and Potential 12-Year Tax Exemption for Wareham Development<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Finance Committee met on Monday, Nov. 19, just three days before Thanksgiving.\u00a0 Are we feeling thankful?\u00a0 Yes and no.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>On the positive side, city revenue remains up over last year— the new Target store in town is proving to be a solid sales tax asset—and expenditures by most city departments are down.\u00a0 Doug Robinson, a regular advisor to the city on its investments, reported that our monies are in safe instruments and remain substantially liquid.\u00a0 No surprises here, and we don\u2019t expect any given the city\u2019s conservative investment philosophy.\u00a0 We heard a report on the new contract arrangement with Alameda County for fire services, and aside from a modest increase, county-wide, in overtime costs, the new system looks like a winner for cost savings over all.\u00a0\u00a0 I should also add that Debra Auker has been named Director of Administrative Services for the city, and she continues her responsibilities for managing financial affairs.\u00a0 The Finance Committee members find her reports and analyses clear.\u00a0 She is also responsive to our queries and suggestions. I think I speak for the Committee when I say that puts her appointment in the plus column.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Wareham's proposed Transit Center in Emeryville<\/p><\/div>\n

So what\u2019s to worry about?\u00a0 Topping the list is the continuing process of leaving our old Redevelopment Agency operations, making paybacks to the state, and liquidating redevelopment assets.\u00a0 The city is meeting all the deadlines for negotiations with the state on these murky matters, but how they will come out is unclear.\u00a0 Will we have to cough up more?\u00a0 Will litigation be necessary?\u00a0 No one knows for sure.\u00a0 About the only positive spin I can put regarding this on-going drama is that the state, with passage of Prop. 30 and an improving economy, may be a bit more generous to former Redevelopment programs such as ours and squeeze less hard.\u00a0 Time will tell.<\/p>\n

The city is moving toward an unusual arrangement with Wareham Development, the designated developer of the Transit Center site, presently a capped brownfield zone suitable only for a surface parking lot.\u00a0 Further clean-up is needed if anything is to be built there.\u00a0 How to pay for such clean-up now that Redevelopment money is gone and clean-up is estimated to cost $1.5 to $1.7 million, maybe more?<\/p>\n

Staff proposes a deferred tax scheme, in which the developer will do the clean-up and build on the site in exchange for a 12-year property tax exemption up to $3 million in value on what gets built.\u00a0 City Manager Patrick O\u2019keefe admits that this is an unusual arrangement, one the city would be reluctant to repeat.\u00a0 But his reasoning\u2014and so far three City Council members agree—is that the site will produce no revenue as a parking lot, nothing will get built there until clean-up is completed, so why not get things moving and look for profit 12 years down the road?\u00a0 He also noted that no money will be coming out of the general fund to finance the clean-up, a possibility that concerned the Finance Committee.\u00a0 A final contract on the Transit Center site will be coming to the City Council soon.\u00a0 Keep an eye on the details, and don\u2019t hesitate to weigh in if you have any worries about it.\u00a0 The Finance Committee certainly will do both.<\/p>\n

Bill Reuter<\/strong> is Resident Member and Chair of the Emeryville Finance Committee.<\/em><\/p>\n