Friday, 06 May 2011 05:39 | Last Updated on Friday, 06 May 2011 05:50 | Written by Dana Blickley & Penny Canales

With all government budgets at a deficit, the housing market falling, the price of groceries increasing, and the jobless rate rising, how is it possible to dress the corridors from I-95 to the beaches with lavish landscaping and refurbish older areas of every city in Brevard County? The answer is this month's Alphabet Soup Dictionary Entry: CRAs!

CRA is an abbreviation for Community Redevelopment Area. It is also referred to as the Redevelopment Act of 1969 which has been adopted as Chapter 163 Part III of the Florida State Statues. The Act was spawned by Lyndon Johnson's Model Cities Program which was dissolved in 1974 because it failed to meet its goals of slum renewal and economic development.

In Chapter 163 of the Florida Statutes, “Community Redevelopment Area” is defined as a slum, blighted, or area in which there is a shortage of housing that is affordable to residents of low or moderate income, including the elderly. The area may also be a coastal and tourist area that is deteriorating and economically distressed due to outdated building density patterns, inadequate transportation and parking facilities, faulty lot layout or inadequate street layout, or a combination thereof which the governing body designates as appropriate for community redevelopment. For community redevelopment agencies created after July 1, 2006, a community redevelopment area may not consist of more than 80 percent of a municipality.

At face value a CRA sounds like a great thing, right? But if you really noodle it, the program essentially perpetuates itself, like the Smith's keeping up with the Jones'. Because the CRA definitions are vague and the measurement tool used is comparison of one area to another, it reasons that as one area is improved it creates another to be improved.

Now let’s shift our focus to the main goal of any CRA program, to generate tax revenue. The way it works is a base year for taxes is designated, and then any tax increments above that base line are put directly into the CRA fund rather than the taxing entities general fund. The taxes put into the CRA fund are used to improve properties in the CRA which in turn raises the market value and increases revenue from property taxes. At a County Commission meeting on January 26, 2010, during discussion of the purchase of property by the County known as Blue Crab Cove, County Commissioner Chuck Nelson stated that the County Manager, Howard Tipton, called it right when he stated that the whole concept of the CRA is to stop the declining of property values, and set up a mechanism to actually increase the property values within the district. This is almost comical when you consider our current economic situation where all property values continue to plummet faster than a ship's anchor.

It is obvious to the most casual observer that it does not make any sense to take money from our already anemic Countywide general fund, which is used to maintain our infrastructure throughout Brevard County, and use it to fund the improvements and infrastructure of specific pockets of properties.  For example, why would a resident that owns a home in Palm Bay want to fund lavish landscaping and new infrastructure for a small portion of properties in the Town of Palm Shores?

Given our current rate of decline in property values due to the number of foreclosures, short sales, and real estate owned properties in Brevard County, it is not farfetched to ponder that many neighborhoods, that have previously been classified as stable and occupied with middle-class working residents, are now standing on their heads in quick sand and soon may end up qualifying for CRA status.

Currently Brevard County has 12 CRA's, almost all of which have been expanded from their initial established boundaries. Florida law states that all CRA activities must be completed within thirty years after the redevelopment plan is approved; within thirty years after the redevelopment plan is amended in the case of agencies created before July 1, 2002, and forty years after plan approval or amendment in the case of agencies created after that date, (Section 163.362(10), Florida Statutes.)

Generally, it takes between 5 and 10 years for a CRA to collect enough revenue from property taxes to start funding improvements. In addition, CRA's are required to adopt a CRP (Community Redevelopment Plan) that outlines projects and programs to eliminate the slums and/or blighting conditions over a defined period of time. Looking at our CRAs you can see that we have 3 that will reach the 30 year lifespan in the next 3 years and six that are over ten years in age. The remaining districts are fairly young and most are expansions of existing CRAs.

Brevard County Redevelopment Area	Base Year	Age of CRA	Date of CRP/Amendment
Cocoa Downtown Unit I - D1	1981	29	1997
Cocoa Downtown Unit II - D2	1997	13	1998
Cocoa Downtown Unit III - D3	1997	13	1998
Melbourne Downtown - Unit 1 K1	1982	28	1982
Melbourne Babcock St - Unit II K2	1997	13	1998
Melbourne Eau Gallie Area Unit III K3	2000	10	2001
Melbourne Babcock St - Unit II K4	2001	9	2002
Melbourne Babcock St - Unit II K5	2003	7	2003
Melbourne Olde Eau Gallie Riverfront Area Unit III K6	2005	5	2005
Melbourne Downtown -  K7	2005	5	2006
Palm Bay Downtown Area (U1)	1998	12	2010
Palm Shores Area -J1	2002	8	2002
Rockledge Downtown Area - E1	2001	9	2002
Satellite Beach Downtown Area M1	2001	9	2002
Titusville Downtown Area  - A1	1982	28	2005
Titusville U.S. 1 Corridor - A2	2007	3	2007
Merritt Island Redevelopment Area B1	1988	22	1991
Merritt Island Redevelopment Area B2	1990	20	1991
Merritt Island Redevelopment Area B3	2005	5	2006

Dana Blickley, an Internal Auditor with the Clerk of Circuit Court, conducted a review of all CRA’s in Brevard County in February 2010 and found that the revenues generated by property taxes within the CRA districts have shown a dramatic increase in recent years. Her report revealed that Brevard County's annual disbursement to the agencies in fiscal year 2009 was $5.8 million, compared to $1.7 million in fiscal year 2002. For FY 2010, the annual disbursements to the CRA agencies dropped to $4.7 million as a result of a decline in property valuations. For FY 2002 through FY 2010, the County has transferred a total of $31 million to the CRA districts.

Wouldn't it be more beneficial at this time for the CRA tax increment to be reduced to maintain the general funding that is used by the entire County and all municipalities? According to Section 163.387(1)(a), Florida Statues, the districts established after July 1, 1994 are subject to the Board's authority to reduce the tax increment from 95% to 50%. However, when County Commissioner Trudie Infantini asked questions about recapturing contributions and lowering the tax increments, County Attorney Scott Knox pointed out that due to a “gray Area” involving the interrelationship of the governing provisions pertaining to the mandatory or discretionary contribution of the tax increment, the Board may desire to seek clarification through an Attorney General's Opinion in order to clarify how the provision should be construed. It is unknown what the outcome of that AGO was or if it was ever perused.

With all the financial woes bearing down on our nation, state and county, Cocoa Beach CRA Commission flutters about excitedly with grand visions in their heads of how they want their newly renovated city to look while Team Cocoa is buying stock in aspirin as they prepare a eulogy for their CRA.

Brevard County is one of the most beautiful, friendly places to live, work and play. There are parks galore (we even have dog parks), miles upon miles of beaches, delicious food to meet every taste, stores of every venue, a plethora of recreational activities year round and plenty of affordable homes to choose from. So one must wonder, how could there still be enough blighted, slumming, unaffordable/inadequate housing, insufficient roads, inadequate infrastructure and parking within these CRA’s after so many years of investment within them?.