OAKLANDERS ARE BEING ASKED to approve two tax-related ballot measures during the upcoming June 2 election.
One, Measure E, is a new $192 annual parcel tax increase and the other, Measure C, is a one-year business tax waiver for certain small and newly opened businesses.
Despite being a tax proposal, Measure E only requires a simple majority vote to pass since it was placed on the ballot by a privately financed signature gathering effort, rather than by the Oakland City Council.
The council, however, passed a two-year budget in 2025 that closed an enormous $265 million deficit by eliminating hundreds of unfilled city positions and anticipating tens of millions of dollars in new income over the next two years.
At the time, councilmembers said they were anticipating that some of the new income would come from a new bond measure or parcel tax. In February, the city’s unions delivered by successfully completing a signature gathering drive to put Measure E on the ballot.
If approved by voters, the new nine-year tax would raise $34 million annually to support the city’s 911 system, police and fire services, homelessness solutions and anti-illegal dumping efforts.
It would charge $192 a year for single-family homes and $131 per unit for multi-unit properties. It would also calculate a “single-family home equivalent” for nonresidential parcels using frontage and square-foot measurements and a $224 multiplier.
It would establish an independent committee to oversee management of the funds and would require a biennial audit, both of which would generate publicly available reports.
“YES on E replaces an expiring property assessment with a lower one that reduces taxes for a majority of Oakland homeowners to continue funding for the essential city services our community relies on,” according to the Yes on E website.
So far, the Measure E campaign committee — “Oaklanders for a Safe, Clean & Healthy City” — has reported spending a little over $500,000 on the petition drive, polling, political consultants and other campaign expenses. Most of that money has come from union sources.
Opponents’ campaign committee, “Neighbors for an Affordable Oakland,” sponsored by an East Bay real estate group called the Bridge Association of Realtors, has raised $20,000, all of it from the California Association of Realtors.
Opponents paint Measure E as a money grab from the city’s powerful union groups and argue that the city’s taxes are already among the highest in the state.
“Just last year, voters approved Oakland Measure NN, costing taxpayers about $198 per year, supposedly to address public safety,” according to the argument submitted against the measure. “Yet since then, the number of police officers has declined instead of increased. We’ve heard the same promise before: approve this tax and things will improve. Instead, the problems get worse.”
In fact, Oakland is currently out of compliance with the terms of Measure NN, which requires the city to budget for at least 700 sworn police officers by July 1. The adopted budget includes funding for 678 officers.
If the city fails to meet the terms of Measure NN, the tax will be suspended for one fiscal year, unless the City Council declares a “a state of extreme fiscal necessity.”
The estimated cost to comply for the 2026-2027 fiscal year is $18.6 million, including $11.6 million for three police academies and $6.9 million for the additional officers, according to a January report from the city’s Finance Department.
“Conducting three additional academies is not feasible due to significant recruiting challenges in such a short timeframe and the overall difficulty of managing too many academies in a single year,” according to the report.
Additionally, the city is out of compliance with seven of its 21 voter-approved ballot measures, including three other parcel taxes.
For example, Oakland is roughly $2.8 million short of the spending mandates required by two parcel taxes earmarked for libraries — one from 2022 for $114.50 a year for single-family homes and one from 2018 for $75 a year — and hasn’t abided by the spending categories established by $148 parcel tax ballot measure from 2020 that raises money for parks and homelessness service.
Lawsuit targets Measure E
In addition to having to win over Oakland voters, Measure E supporters must also overcome a legal challenge from the Alameda County Taxpayers’ Association.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday, ACTA alleges multiple violations of the California Public Records Act in connection with how the measure was placed on the ballot.
The suit claims, among other things, that city officials and Service Employees International Union Local 1021 leadership coordinated to have the union spearhead the petition drive that placed Measure E on the ballot to avoid the more difficult two-thirds voter approval threshold that would have been required if the City Council placed it on the ballot itself.
Oakland attorney Marleen Sacks says Oakland officials are withholding public records related to her investigation into the matter in violation of state and city open records laws.
The suit also says Measure E “falsely and misleadingly claims” it would replace an expiring property assessment with a lower one that reduces taxes “even though ACTA contends there is no evidence of any expiring property tax that the measure would replace,” according to a news release announcing the lawsuit.
The other tax proposal Oaklanders must ponder is Measure C, which the City Council put on the ballot at the urging of councilmembers Zac Unger and Janani Ramachandran.
The measure would eliminate the gross receipts tax for certain small business classes that don’t gross more than $1 million in sales for 2027.
It would also eliminate up to $1 million in gross receipts taxes for all businesses opening a new Oakland location in 2027.
The exemptions would only last one year, but the City Council could expand it for three additional years if it proves to be popular.
Money for the tax breaks — $3 million — has already been accounted for in the city’s budget, but voter approval is required because the existing business tax rates of between .05% and .55% of gross receipts were established by voters when they approved Measure T in 2022.
The tax holiday is intended to support local small businesses and encourage new business growth throughout the city and to counter the narrative that Oakland isn’t particularly business-friendly.
“It’s really import to highlight that we’re offering a one year tax abatement for new businesses coming to Oakland, any size and any type,” Unger said. “It’s also important to send a message to the business community that we’re resetting the relationship between the business community and City Hall.”
