The City Council is expected to direct city staff to look into how a new tax assessment tool could help raise money for improving the Los Angeles River, including a $1 billion U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to restore and enhance an 11-mile section of the waterway. Gov. Jerry Brown this week signed legislation to create Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts or EIFDs.
An EIFD could allow the city to capture tax revenue from riverfront property, and serve as an “ideal” way for the city to raise some of the $500 million it would need to match federal grants for the Army Corps of Engineers project, according to a motion introduced today by Councilmen Mitch O’Farrell and Bob Blumenfield.
Their motion calls for city staff to report back to the Arts, Parks, Health, Aging and Los Angeles River Committee on how the EIFD tool works and how it could be used to fund river projects.
The assessment districts are aimed at giving local governments a way to fund infrastructure projects, such as affordable housing, parks and transportation.
—City News Service