Sacramento officials asked the city of Anaheim Monday to stop all negotiations with the Sacramento Kings and drop plans to issue $75 million in lease revenue bonds to entice the team to move.

Otherwise, Sacramento expects Anaheim and the Anaheim Public Finance Authority to contractually require the Kings' owners to first repay Sacramento $77 million for lease revenue bonds issued here in 1997, according to a letter emailed late Monday afternoon to Anaheim City Manager Tom Wood.

"I am deeply concerned about the potential for Anaheim's actions causing irreparable harm to the city of Sacramento," Sacramento Assistant City Manager John Dangberg said in the letter. "As the Anaheim city manager, you certainly understand the financial and budgetary implications for Sacramento were the Kings to relocate without satisfying their approximately $77 million obligation to pay off the city's bonds."

The letter was issued on a day when Sacramento city staff were off work for the César Chavéz holiday. Dangberg was not available to comment.

A public hearing and vote is scheduled before the Anaheim City Council at 5 p.m. Tuesday. The only two items on the agenda involve a resolution to approve Anaheim Public Financing Authority lease revenue bonds for improvements and working capital for the Honda Center – an arena owned by the city of Anaheim.

Billionaire Henry Samueli owns Anaheim Arena Management, which manages the arena, and the Anaheim Ducks hockey team.

The financing authority is scheduled to meet immediately after the council adjourns for a vote on a consent calendar item authorizing issuance of the bonds.

The Kings agreed to pay off outstanding bonds in Sacramento if it moved to another city before 2027, according to Dangberg’s letter.

A move by the Kings would lead to "blighting impacts" for Sacramento, Dangberg wrote, adding that city officials are working on another letter addressing what they see as an inadequate review of the environmental impacts of projects Anaheim is now considering funding. Legal challenges to public projects are sometimes filed over claims involving environmental impact concerns.

Anaheim has failed to turn over all records relating to the Kings, the National Basketball Association and the Maloofs as requested in a public records act filed by Sacramento March 4, the letter stated.

The letter was sent to Anaheim at 4 p.m. Copies of the letter were also emailed to the Sacramento City Council, Mayor Kevin Johnson, the Anaheim City Council, Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait, the Anaheim city clerk, State Senate President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento, The Sacramento Bee and The Orange County Register.

Monday evening, Mayor Kevin Johnson's office issued a statement reiterating his expectation that the Maloofs will repay their loan from Sacramento.

"The mayor continues his laser focus on fighting for what’s best for Sacramento. First and foremost, that means doing everything we can to keep the Kings, and all the economic and community benefits they provide," mayoral spokesman Joaquin McPeek said in the statement. "But it also means taking basic precautionary measures to protect taxpayers in case the team does relocate." 

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.