$2.12 Billion in Taxes Expected in Long Beach Redevelopment

The Redevelopment Agency expects to collect more than $2.12 billion in taxes over the lifetime of the city’s four project areas, agency officials announced last week.

The income comes from property taxes, which are partly diverted from other government entities to the Redevelopment Agency to repay the cost of redevelopment. In Long Beach, the money is being collected over a 50-year period, which is not expected to end until about 2025.

Most of the money that goes to Long Beach will come from the West Long Beach Industrial Redevelopment Area, which is expected to generate $1.17 billion to repay its debts.

The projection fulfills a state law that requires redevelopment agencies to set limits on the amount of tax revenue they will receive from each of their project areas. The same law requires agencies to say when they will stop condemning property, and when they will stop taking on new debts.

Except in the west Long Beach industrial area, where condemnation is usually prohibited anyway, condemnation will end by 1998 in the city’s downtown, west beach, and Poly High redevelopment areas. New debts will not be taken on after 2008 in the Poly High area, 2009 in the west beach area, 2010 downtown, and 2025 in the west Long Beach industrial area, the report says.