1 Acevedo, Gloria
Subject: RE: Finance Comittee meeting 2/24 - General public comment From: Adam Bray‐Ali
Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2025 10:35 PM
To: cityclerk <[email protected]>
Cc: Hawkesworth, Matthew <[email protected]> Subject: Finance Comittee meeting 2/24 ‐ General public comment [❚❛❜] CAUTION: This email was delivered from the Internet. Do not click links or open attachments unless you know the content is safe. Report phish using the Phish Alert Button. For more information about the Phish Alert Button view article "KB0011474" on the DoIT portal.
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G
ood evening Finance committee members.
I am writing to remind you that the Pasadena Rental Housing Board has an obligation to repay $500,000 to the city funds received from the COVID‐Era ARPA funds that should be requested from the appointed Rental Housing Board and their Rental Stabilization Department by th e City Council
In May 2023 your committee and the City Council advanced $500,000 to the Pasadena Rental Housing Board for their start up costs. The Board has completed a number of steps towards their budget and revenue process and announced that they collected $3.1M as of early January with an addi tional incoming revenue of approximately 27% more, (it is not clear if this reflects individual dwellings or properties that may have more than one dwelling). Their February 6, 2025 meeting report had a note in the Director's report about the percentages and the February 20th Agenda did have more details on the revenue received as well as spendin g estimates but that agenda/report was removed from their webpage when they cancelled the meeting last week.
Here is the link to the Feb 6th report (page 38 onward) https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/wp‐content/uploads/sites/31/2025‐02‐06‐PRHB‐AGENDA‐ PACKET.pdf?v=1740378413760
Charter Am
endment 18 includes definitive statements about the city providing start‐up funds and for the city to recover those funds once the Rental Housing Board has funds for their operations. I've highlighted this in bold below.
The City should be requesting these funds to be properly accounted for and repaid. The propo nents of Measure H promised the residents of Pasadena that the entire cost of implementing this charter amendment would be paid by property owners who rent out legal dwellings in Pasadena.
Sincerely,
Adam Bray‐Ali
Measure H, now Chapter 18 of the City includes the following paragraphs:
You don't often get email from. Learn why this is important 2 (l)
Financing. The Rental Board shall finance its reasonable and necessary expenses, including without limitation engaging any staff as necessary to ensure impl ementation of this Article, by charging Landlords an annual Rental Housing Fee as set forth herein, in amounts deemed reasonable by the Rental Board in accordance with applicable law. The Rental Board is also empowered to request and receive funding when and if necessary from any available source, including the City of Pasadena, for its reasonable and necessary expenses.
(1)
Rental Housing Fee. All Landlords shall pay a Rental Ho using Fee on an annual basis. The first Rental Board convened after the effective date of this Article shall determine the amount of the Rental Housing Fee. The amount of the Rental Housing Fee may differ between Rental Units subject to the entirety of this Article and those that are partially exempt. The Rental Board may ad just the amount of the Rental Housing Fee at its discretion to ensure full funding of its reasonable an d necessary expenses, in accordance with all applicable law.
(A)
Pass-Through to Tenants. No portio n of the Rental Housing Fee may be passed through to Tenants. The Rental Housing Fee may be claimed as an operating expense for the purpose of a Petition for Individual Rent Adjustment.
(2)
City to Advance Initial Funds. During the initial impl ementation of this Article, the City shall advance all necessary funds to ensure the effective implementa tion of this Article, until the Rental Board has collected Rental Housing Fees sufficient to support the implementation of this Article. The City may seek reimbursement of any advanc ed funds from the Rental Board after the Rental Housing Fee has been collected. Reimbursement of the City shall not take precedent over the normal and reasonable operating costs of the Rental Board.
3 ‐‐
Adam Bray‐Ali
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage