A surprise offer from the Oakland police union means Oakland voters likely will be asked to shoulder the burden of solving Oakland"s budget mess once again.
The council voted 5-3 Monday night to place a $360 parcel tax on the November ballot "" an unpopular move that seemed highly unlikely earlier Monday "" if Oakland police agree to pay 9 percent into the pension plans. The contributions would be phased in over a three-year period.
The deal is tenuous. The Oakland police rank and file must still approve the deal by Aug. 10 or the city will pull the parcel tax from the ballot. The police pension offer also hinges on the parcel tax"s passing in November. If it passes, the union is guaranteed no layoffs for three years, and the 80 police officers that were laid off two weeks ago will be rehired.
If the ballot measure fails, the deal falls apart and the police officers will not contribute to their pensions.
If approved, the parcel tax will raise about $54 million a year, more than enough to cover Oakland"s projected $50 million deficit next fiscal year. The tax would be levied on each residential parcel.
The council voted unanimously to place a measure on the ballot to amend Measure Y to keep collecting about $20 million in parcel and parking taxes without having to maintain a certain number of police officers on staff. If approved, the city could reassign 63 problem-solving officers who were put back on patrol duty July 13.
Voters also will be asked to approve a telephone utility tax that raises about $8 million a year. It adds $1.99 tax to each phone line, including cellular telephones. Unlike the parcel tax, the utility tax only requires a simple majority vote. Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente was the lone no vote on that issue.
Earlier in the evening the council overcame pleas and threats from the medical cannabis industry and voted 5-0-3 to tax medical cannabis businesses "" both dispensaries and new cultivation businesses "" at 5 percent, and to tax recreational marijuana cultivation and sales "" if a statewide ballot measure passes in November "" at 10 percent.
Dispensary workers, patients and small growers warned that the tax would price Oakland out of the nascent cannabis market and force dispensaries, growers and patients across city lines to more friendly environs "" places where the tax rate is lower, such as Berkeley, San Francisco or San Jose.
James Anthony, attorney for the Harborside Health Center dispensary, said Oakland"s dispensaries face "fierce competition" that will only be worse as neighboring cities set their tax rates lower than Oakland"s. He said Oakland missed a real opportunity to structure the tax rates to everyone"s benefit. Now the dispensaries will have no other choice but to pass along the increased costs to the patients, he said.
"This will go on at the register, and patients will see Oakland taking their money," he said.
A proposed utility tax on garbage and water, as well as a proposed quarter-cent sales tax increase will not be on the November ballot.
Before the police union negotiations were revived Monday afternoon, there was little support for the parcel tax, and De La Fuente vowed to campaign against it. De La Fuente and Councilmember Desley Brooks said the taxpayers should not have to shoulder the burden for the city"s failure to make structural changes in the way it does business.
