C.A. 3rd;
C081918

The Third Appellate District reversed a judgment. The court held that a city's payment of funds directly to a construction company did not undermine the city's claim that the funds constituted a loan between itself and itself as successor agency

The City of Anaheim, acting in its capacity as successor to the former Anaheim Redevelopment Agency, sought approval from the California Department of Finance to obtain money from the Redevelopment Property Tax Trust Fund to pay back the city for payments the city had made to a construction company to complete certain real property improvements the former agency was obligated to provide for a redevelopment project it had undertaken. The city characterized the transaction as a loan from the city to itself as successor agency. The city as successor also sought approval from the department to obtain money from the fund to make payments to the Anaheim Housing Authority under a cooperation agreement between the agency and the authority, the purpose of which was to provide funding for a revitalization project being carried out by a private developer under contract with the authority. The department denied both claims, finding, as to the first, that the city had not disbursed the loan proceeds to itself as successor, but had instead paid the construction company directly. Further, the city as successor had not obtained prior approval for the “loan” agreement with the city from the oversight board. As to the second claim, the department found the 2011 law that dissolved the former redevelopment agencies renders all agreements between a former redevelopment agency and the city that created that agency, or a closely affiliated entity like the authority, unenforceable.