City granted use of $13.5 million in RDA bond proceeds

Funds had been tied up with state since Redevelopment Agencies were dissolved in 2010
The city of Healdsburg finally got the go ahead last week to spend more than $13 million that had been tied up with the state’s Department of Finance since late 2010.
It was then that Redevelopment Agencies across the state were dismantled without a clear idea of where that would leave bond proceeds secured from the RDA’s, but that had not yet been spent.
What ensued was two and a half years of jumping through hoops, said Assistant City Manager David Mickaelian, and “waiting to access those funds — that are really ours — since 2010 and in 2013 we will finally be able to utilize our own money.”
Mickaelian likened it to having $13 million in a bank account, that the bank wouldn’t let you use for almost three years.
It wasn’t clear from the beginning what would happen to the projects that were planned or the money that was allocated to them. Some cities filed lawsuits, however, the city of Healdsburg decided to move forward in a way that would potentially give them access to the $13 million in bond proceeds quicker.
“There’s a lot of litigation (from other cities) but the decision was made, let’s go through the process because the litigation would have delayed our ability to access this money,” Mickaelian said.
After four rounds of submitting “Recognized Obligation Payment Schedules” (ROPS), the city was issued a Finding of Completion on April 17, that states the successor agency to the Redevelopment Agency may now “utilize proceeds derived from bonds issued prior to Jan. 1, 2011 in a manner consistent with the original bond covenants…”
The proceeds must be spent on capital improvements — projects that could include the new roundabout at the five-way intersection and other infrastructure improvements in Central Healdsburg, the city’s match on the Healdsburg Avenue Bridge, the second phase of improvements to the Downtown Streetscape, and acquisition of Foss Creek School.
The city approved an initial project list during the RDA dissolution process, but Mickaelian said city councilmembers will likely want to take a second look at how the money will be spent during the 2013-2014 budget reviews, which start next month.
City Manager Marjie Pettus said the new development was exciting and now the city will be able to move forward on projects that have been in the works for years.
“It’s really exciting  that we now have an opportunity to access those bond monies for our projects,” she said. “The tricky part is going to be for the council to determine the priority of those projects and where the funding should be allocated. We have $27 million in projects and we have $13.5 million to use.”
Pettus credited Mickaelian for his hard work on moving the city forward through the elaborate state process.
“He is to be credited as the driving force. He has been very tenacious through this process,” she said.
Healdsburg is one of the first cities to make its way through the state’s RDA dissolution process to this point. Next, the city will be required to develop a property management plan for the RDA-owned properties, which in Healdsburg includes multiple public parking lots.  
“We will be taking a look over the next six months at the properties now owned by the successor agency, that’s the next big piece,” Mickaelian said.