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OAKLAND — Voters will decide in March whether to approve a $148 parcel tax to clean parks and storm drains as well as fund homeless support services.
The tax, if passed, is estimated to generate $21 million annually for 20 years — $13.44 million would be used for parks, landscape maintenance and recreational services; $6.3 million would be used for homeless support services; $1.05 million would be used to fix and clean storm drains; and $210,000 to be used for auditing and overseeing the tax.
“It’s about more than mowing lawns. This measure represents a major social investment, a social solution for elevating Oakland,” Heather Kuiper, president of the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation, said at a Nov. 14 City Council meeting, where the council unanimously voted to put the measure on the March 3, 2020, ballot.
The ballot measure is meant to address a shortfall in funding from the landscape lighting assessment district — a parcel tax approved by the City Council in 1989. City officials say that tax generates around $20 million a year to pay for groundskeeping, tree maintenance, pools, open space, parks and fields, but that tax rate hasn’t changed despite the cost of maintenance significantly increasing.
Oakland faces an $8 million structural funding gap from the landscape lighting assessment district, and would lean on this tax to close that gap, said Assistant to the City Administrator Brad Johnson at the Nov. 14 meeting.
The shortfall has resulted in Public Works Department staff cuts and less maintenance, leaving many of the city’s parks in dire condition: South Prescott Park in West Oakland is filled with weeds, gopher holes and bare spots; and near that, Wade Johnson Park has had overflowing trash and become a hotspot for illegal dumping.
Low-income seniors and very low-income residents could request an exemption from the tax. The 2019 income limit for low-income is $69,000 for an individual, and the limit for very low-income was $43,400.
In earlier meetings, City Council members pointed out that there’s a connection between the poor conditions of the parks and homelessness, and opted for the tax to also pay for homelessness services. Since there are fewer options for the city to pay for parks maintenance than for homeless services, the council chose to have the majority of the money generated from the tax go to parks.
Greg McConnell, president of the Jobs and Housing Coalition, said in a statement read by Mimi Rohr at the Nov. 14 meeting that he had “strong reservations” about the tax, given the “Measure AA debacle.” Measure AA was a $198 parcel tax to boost funding for education services and career readiness on last November’s ballot that the City Council had decided had passed despite falling short of a two-thirds majority vote. Oakland was sued over the City Council’s decision and lost; an Alameda County Superior Court judge deemed the parcel tax unenforceable.
The parks parcel tax also would require a two-thirds majority of the votes to pass. Pollsters found that though a majority of voters are in support of the measure, the support is less than the two-thirds requirement, according to a September staff report from City Administrator Sabrina Landreth.
The Jobs and Housing Coalition also is opposed to the tax because its members believe that it isn’t fair for only businesses and homeowners to pay the tax when everyone in the city would benefit, McConnell said.
McConnell also said that the city should separate the issues of homelessness and parks maintenance.
“We have looked at the parks in this city, and many are overrun with homeless people and dangerous conditions,” McConnell said. “Please don’t try to sell this tax as a way to make parks safe and attractive to residents and their children. Our advice: Address homelessness straight on.”