City redevelopment deal should be repealed, Staub says

Supervisor Richard Staub wants the city to reconsider a plan that would take $2 million that was scheduled to help redevelop downtown and the south side of Carson City and give the money to other city projects.

Staub, Supervisor Pete Livermore and Mayor Marv Teixeira, who wrote the plan, said earlier this month that since the city used $2 million from the city's main fund, the general fund, to convince a developer to bring Burlington Coat Factory to the city, $2 million that would have gone to the redevelopment authority over eight years from property taxes should go back to the general fund.

The city needs many improvements that have been delayed because of the slow economy, the mayor said.

But that was "probably the wrong decision to make," Staub said, because it's not clear how the plan would be put into place and, besides that, the general fund will already benefit from sales taxes raised from Burlington.

"It does amount to double dipping," he said.

Staub wants to replace the mayor's plan with a new plan to transfer 10 percent of the money the redevelopment raises each year to the general fund to pay for the police, road maintenance and other things redevelopment projects and activities the general fund pays.

Supervisors will vote on Staub's plan at their meeting Thursday.