YORBA LINDA : Schools to File Claim in Tax Fund Dispute

A dispute over several million dollars that the Placentia-Yorba Linda School District says it is owed by the city Redevelopment Agency may wind up in court.

School district trustees Tuesday authorized their attorney to file a claim against the Redevelopment Agency, the first step in initiating a lawsuit.

Under a 1983 agreement, the agency pays the district a percentage of property taxes collected in the city’s redevelopment area.

The district contents it has been underpaid for the past four years under terms of the agreement.

The agreement allows for the tax funds to be used for projects of mutual benefit to the district and the city.

The school district’s attorney, Leonard D. Brinley, said: “The agreement between the Redevelopment Agency and the school district is convoluted, which has probably helped contribute to the problem. The agency has not paid certain funds, and so we are filing a claim.”

Complicating the dispute is a disagreement over the use of redevelopment money to pay for a proposed $2.5-million gymnasium at Hurless Barton Park, near Yorba Linda Middle School.

While officials of both the district and the city agree that the gymnasium would benefit both residents and students at the middle school, the district is reluctant to give up redevelopment funds unless it is an equal partner in the project. But the city’s plans call for the district to be a tenant with no ownership rights.

In negotiations between the two parties, the city has offered the district use of the facility during school hours and on an unspecified number of evenings. In return, the district would pay part of the maintenance costs, estimated at $36,000 a year.

The city would have the right to terminate the district’s use of the gym after one year.