San Diego City officials declared victory Thursday in an ongoing legal battle over the use money from lease-revenue bonds being used for infrastructure, after the California Supreme Court refused to hear the case brought by the group San Diegans for Open Government.
At issue was whether the city could legally use the money for street repairs, and other neighborhood infrastructure like fire stations, libraries and lifeguard towers. A lower court had ruled the practice constitutional.
“The Supreme Court has once again affirmed San Diego’s ability to use lease-revenue bonds to plan, build and repair public infrastructure that is essential to our quality of life,” City Attorney Jan Goldsmith said in a statement. “Had SDOG succeeded in this costly and meritless action, our children would have fewer libraries, our firefighters would be stationed farther from the neighborhoods they serve, and our streets would be repaired at a much slower rate.”
The decision leaves intact lower court rulings that upheld the constitutionality of the bond financing mechanism, which has been used by local governments throughout California since it was ruled constitutional in 1998, according to Goldsmith.
SDOG and lawyer Cory Briggs had sought to invalidate lease-revenue bonds to finance library projects in Skyline, Mission Hills/Hillcrest, San Ysidro and San Carlos; fire station projects in City Heights, Hillcrest and Skyline; sea wall repairs in Mission Beach; and other neighborhood projects, the statement said.
The bonds were delayed by the lawsuit, but eventually issued after a lower court and appellate court rejected SDOG’s arguments. A parallel action to prevent the City from refinancing of Petco Park bonds was dismissed, but remains pending on appeal.
Briggs was out of town on vacation and not available for comment.
TIMES OF SAN DIEGO
POSTED BY HOA QUACH ON MARCH 10, 2016