City of Tracy v. Cohen

Opinion

BUTZ, J.—

In 2011, the political branches of our state government decided as a matter of public policy that abuses of the redevelopment law, which constituted an ever-growing drain on state finances, required the dissolution of nearly 400 redevelopment agencies and the winding down of outstanding redevelopment obligations; this resulted in a frantic scurry on the part of “sponsoring entities” 2 (usually cities) and their conjoined former redevelopment agencies to lock up “tax increment” revenues—the share of property taxes to which redevelopment agencies had been entitled before the…