Home rule is a hot topic in Tallahassee this legislative session, and last week Lakeland City Commissioners Don Selvage, Jim Malless and Bill Read went to the Capitol to register their complaints with a few bills that infringe on the city’s ability to self-govern. We have already criticized one of their targets: HB 17, introduced by Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, who wants to deny local governments their ability to regulate new businesses in their communities, unless they ask lawmakers for permission first.
We now add to the list a measure filed by Rep. Jake Raburn, a Valrico Republican.
Raburn’s bill would prevent cities and counties from establishing new Community Redevelopment Agencies, or CRAs, after July 1, 2017, forbids existing ones from starting new projects after Oct. 1, 2017, and would mandate that all CRAs that are debt-free be dissolved by October 2037. Under the bill, the state Department of Economic Opportunity could also declare a CRA inactive, which puts it on the path to dissolution, if it claims no revenue, expenses, or loans for three consecutive years.
Created by the state in 1969, CRAs are special tax districts whose mission is to rejuvenate blight-filled areas with new development. Typically, the local governing board sets the CRA’s boundaries, and once it’s created, any increases in property tax revenues within the zone are banked to be eventually plowed back into it for new infrastructure and other needs. The governing board can appoint itself the CRA managing authority, or select others to run it.
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