Confusion abounds over role RDA plays

By Bill Erin

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 | 5:08 p.m.

An issue that is sure to come up during the current campaign for City Council seats is the discontent among many voters with the Redevelopment Authority. The RDA has not only been under attack from some council members, but many voters have climbed on the bandwagon.

There is great misunderstanding about the RDA, how the funds are developed, where they come from and for what they can be used. To put it as simply as possible, first the city establishes a Redevelopment Area. From that date, taxes from increases in property valuation in that area go into the RDA fund. The City Council, sitting as the RDA Board, has final say on how that money is used in the RDA area, ostensibly to fight blight and assist redevelopment.

Even one of the candidates at the BC Facts forum, in his handout, was in error about the RDA. The handout read, in regard to the possibility of the Boulder City RDA being eliminated, "...then the project has run its course and the tax should be removed from the property."

If the RDA is abolished, no taxes are removed or diminished. The properties continue to be taxed the same, but the money goes to the state instead of the city.

This has been one area of controversy. Those opposed to the RDA say this money should go to the state for schools, library and other public functions.

It would go to the state, but it's questionable how much of it would actually accrue to Boulder City schools or the library. The library has its own tax district and can levy taxes for funds it needs. The schools do not. They take what the state gives them, based on attendance, and Boulder City will not get appreciably more.

Strangely, there was little discussion of the RDA at the forum, but one candidate in a recent ad repeated a phrase some council members use repeatedly: Our RDA dollars are given to businesses that can afford to pay for the mostly cosmetic improvements themselves.

First, blight is often most evident in the appearance of a building or area, but the so-called cosmetic improvements often also cover needed repairs. Second, would they have the RDA give funds only to those who couldn't afford the improvements? Remember, the RDA only grants 30 percent of whatever cost is involved.

Further, who is to decide what a business can and cannot afford? A good businessman does not base affordability on the money in his pocket. It is based on whether the expense is justified on the profit-and-loss statement. Why give money to a businessman who will greedily seek the grant because it is there, not because it's a good business decision?

At any rate, the RDA Board, made up of the City Council, has wisely decided to hold off on any decisions regarding the RDA until it sees what the Nevada Legislature will do.

Boulder City isn't the only entity where RDA questions have been raised. The most publicized is the hullabaloo in Las Vegas over a new city hall.

Our assemblyman, Dr. Joe Hardy, is leading the way in legislation to change the way RDA funds are to be used. Other legislators are submitting ideas. If changes are made so RDA funds could be used for the schools in Boulder City, then that would answer the misleading argument that it is taking money from our schools.

While, at this time, the RDA issue does not rate with issues such as the current budget, city debt, the golf course and teamwork on the new council, some candidates will still make it an issue.

Make sure your candidate understands the RDA and is not just using it as a weapon against the current administration.

Bill Erin is a Boulder City News columnist.