As reported here last week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is considering redirecting redevelopment funds–from city governments across the state into local school districts. Sacramento columnist Dan Walters says it’s a good move—supporting schools and taking pressure off the state at a time when its budget is headed toward its annual disaster.

“Predictably, local redevelopment agencies are howling about what they see as an arbitrary raid on their funds,” Walters wrote this morning in the Sacramento Bee. “On closer examination, however, Schwarzenegger’s property tax shift makes a lot of sense.”

“Anything that would shift local resources out of this community is something that neither the agency nor the city would support,” Redevelopment Agency director Craig Beck told the District last week.

Through a complex formula, Redevelopment Agencies in California cities are allowed to pocket property tax revenue that would go otherwise to public schools and county programs. The governor is looking for some $228 million from local redevelopment agencies.

That’ll cramp their buying power. The Long Beach RDA has used its so-called tax increment to buy and raze countless historic buildings, including the Jergins Trust. In April, the RDA paid $2.8 million for Acres of Books. The 74-year-old bookstore is likely to close for good within the next few months.

Tags: acres of books, California budget, Craig Beck, dan walters, jergins trust, Long Beach, redevelopment