All Emeryville registered voters should be informed about what is on the ballot this November 8. Besides the 3 City Council seats that are being contested by 5 candidates, there are also 3 municipal ballot measures. This information is about the 2 ballot measures that concern the business license tax rate and cap.
I received my Sample Ballot and Voter Information Pamphlet today in my mailbox. I am a permanent absentee voter, and I expect that my actual ballot may arrive within the next 2 weeks or so. The Pamphlet includes the question that is posed to the voters on the ballot, arguments for these 2 ballot measures and the full text of the measure. I recommend reading through all of it, but as many of you are busy, I will summarize the measures for you here.
Measure C would raise the rate of the business license tax from 0.08% of gross receipts to 0.10% of gross receipts. This is a small increase and keeps Emeryville's rate below both Oakland (at 0.12%) and Berkeley (at 0.18%). Our rate has not changed for 18 years and has not kept pace with the increasing costs of running the City. Just think of all the new infrastructure that Emeryville has put in place since 1993 that directly benefits businesses here and costs money to maintain.
Measure D would raise the cap that limits how much the largest businesses in town pay for their taxes. Any business that has gross receipts of more than $1.46 million per year pays a flat amount at this time. That means that small businesses are paying a higher rate than the largest ones. Although eliminating the cap makes the most sense to me (no other municipality in Alameda County has a cap), the council changed direction at the last moment and instead put a ballot measure on the ballot that increases the annual cap on business licenses from $117,000 to $300,000. That means that a company's gross receipts would have to be $3.75 million per year to reach the cap, or if Measure C passes, only $3 million to reach the cap. For a company bringing in that much money, it seems like the business license tax they pay would be a small amount to consider. Surprisingly (or not surprisingly), at least one of the very largest businesses in town has strongly protested this change, and in fact has "discovered" they no longer have such large gross receipts attributable to their operations in town. They asked (and got) a refund from the city for most of the taxes they paid last year.
This is not surprising -- all entities change behavior in the face of changes in regulation. I see this as a long-term correction for the City of Emeryville. It is not only about the needed revenues we will get in the next year or two, but the ongoing revenues that we will use as we continue to improve our 1.2 square mile city.
We all know that economically speaking, everyone is feeling the tough times. The City has reduced spending by 10% in the current 2-year budget plan, and we are starting to find that maintenance issues are catching up with us, and our hiring freeze and vacant positions are affecting services.
Businesses account for 60% of the land use in Emeryville, and they can contribute to our quality of life.
Please vote YES on both Measures C & D!
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