City and County Reach Redevelopment Accord : Thousand Oaks: Agency will be allowed to continue to collect money for housing and other improvement projects.

Thousand Oaks and Ventura County officials Thursday reached a tentative settlement allowing the city’s Redevelopment Agency to pour $120 million into building affordable homes and beautifying a downtown corridor.

Concerned that the redevelopment program would divert scarce property tax dollars from fire protection, flood control and other services, the county had threatened to block Thousand Oaks’ plans with a lawsuit.

But Thursday evening, both city and county officials said that days of intense number-crunching had yielded agreement on the most important issues. A few minor concerns about the document’s language remained to be worked out late Thursday.

“That’s great news,” Thousand Oaks Councilman Alex Fiore said. “I think it’s a win-win situation for the city and the county. Now we’ll be able to go ahead and do a lot of nice things.”

With the redevelopment money, the City Council plans to build an auditorium for Newbury Park High School and a stadium for Westlake High School. To freshen up an aging four-mile stretch of Thousand Oaks Boulevard, the council plans new landscaping, sidewalks and other cosmetic changes.

All the redevelopment funds come from property taxes collected along Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

The county receives a base-line amount of taxes, set when the Redevelopment Agency was founded in 1979. The city then collects each dollar assessed above that figure--a considerable sum, as property values have risen sharply in the last 14 years.

Since the agency was established, it has collected roughly $72 million. Of that, one-fifth is reserved for affordable housing and another 20% gets funneled back to county coffers.

Under the agreement reached Thursday, the county will continue to receive one-fifth of the Redevelopment Agency’s receipts for the next year or two. As soon as the agency’s gross tax income hits $100 million, the county’s share will jump to 22%. The county’s portion will continue to rise in steps, reaching 36% once the Redevelopment Agency has collected $400 million.

“We feel confident that (the county’s revenue) is protected,” said Marty Robinson, the county’s deputy chief administrative officer.

If approved by the Board of Supervisors and City Council, the settlement will allow Thousand Oaks to extend the life of its Redevelopment Agency for three decades--until 2023.

All told, the agency will be able to collect $530 million in property taxes for local improvement projects.

The City Council approved the plan to extend the Redevelopment Agency’s life and issue $120 million in bonds late last year, but needed permission from all affected tax-collecting agencies before going ahead. By law, the county had 60 days to file suit and block the program--a period that expires Monday.

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“It’s always better to settle than to deal with the time, effort, expense and risk of going to court,” Assistant County Counsel Daniel Murphy said.

While she agreed that negotiation beats litigation, Mayor Elois Zeanah expressed regret that the last obstacle to Thousand Oaks’ redevelopment program had dissolved.

Zeanah had voted against extending the Redevelopment Agency’s life on the grounds that the county general fund needs tax dollars more than Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

“This is not good for taxpayers, and it’s not good for the city,” she said. “That area is not blighted, and property taxes should go for more important things.”

Zeanah also blasted the city’s plan to issue bonds to generate cash for boulevard improvements. “This is not a fiscally conservative policy,” she said. “It’s risky business.”