§ 33481 Redevelopment Debt Tax Allocation

• •If a redevelopment agency owes money for a project area before merging it with others, the taxes from that area must first pay off that debt.
• •The taxes from the merged area can't be used for other things until the old debt is paid.
• •This rule makes sure old promises to pay back money are kept, even after areas are combined.

A city has two project areas, Area A and Area B. Area A has old debt from building a park, but the city merges both areas. Now, the taxes from Area A must first pay off the park debt before being used for anything else in the merged area.

The law says that even after merging, the money from Area A has to go to its old debt first. So, the park debt gets paid before any new projects in the bigger merged area.