Newly appointed Oakdale City Manager Bryan Whitemyer hit the ground running in ways to ease the city’s financial woes. Whitemyer, only on the job since Feb. 4, announced that recent California Department of Finance rulings have allowed California cities to recover some of their costs lost with the dissolution of former redevelopment agencies and the administrative costs now associated with the successor agencies.

The Oakdale Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency was formed when the state legislature ultimately eliminated more than 400 California redevelopment agencies from California cities in February, 2012.

As required by legislation, the Oakdale City Council now operates as the successor agency to take over the duties and obligations of the former RDA. Each successor agency is also required to have an oversight board which approves projects and finances. Seven members of the community sit on the board.

The new cost recovery process allows for the reimbursement for city staff to administer the dissolution and maintenance of the various properties owned by the Oakdale Successor Agency.

Whitemyer pointed out that the city will be pursuing state reimbursement for costs associated with city staff time, some financial consultant time, associated legal costs, and other normal day-to-day costs with running the agency.

Whitemyer said new forms and instructions from the state allows up to $250,000 to be recovered dependent on the tax increment before the dissolution.

“We had a healthy redevelopment agency,” Whitemyer said, who predicted a cash inflow. “This is one increment to recover the costs now incurred.”

The funding is provided by the tax increments from the former RDA boundaries. The requests for payment will be forwarded to the oversight board and State Department of Finance by March 1.

When dissolved in February 2012, the Oakdale RDA still owed the city approximately $3.7 million for projects and obligations from as far back as 1997. The RDA was making yearly payments on these bonds and now the successor agency makes those payments on a schedule using RDA’s former funding mechanisms.

Last year, Interim City Manager Stan Feathers said the loss to the city was approximately $2.2 million per year without the redevelopment agency.