The City Council has directed staff to prepare a ballot measure for the November 4, 2014 election making Emeryville a Charter City, as most of our neighbors already are. Only charter cities can increase their Property Transfer Tax. As a general law city, we are restricted to follow state guidelines for how to organize and run our city. A charter city has greater autonomy, in that we can set our own guidelines through charter amendments passed by the electorate. More info on the city website here.
Because redevelopment went away two years ago, Emeryville has had to adapt, as 95% of our city was inside a redevelopment area, and we received significant funding for our budget and capital improvements from redevelopment as a result. Today, the council is looking at ways our neighboring cities have traditionally paid for these things, and one of those tools is the Property Transfer Tax. The Property Transfer Tax is a fee paid at the time of a property sale or transfer. Our current fee, which is the maximum allowed under general law, is about 5% of what Alameda collects and about 4% of what both Berkeley and Oakland collect. If we become a charter city and increase this tax, we have a lot of room to gain funds for critical capital improvements, and will still be competitive compared to our immediate neighbors.
The Property Transfer Tax is not going to be a consistent source of funds for the city, as it depends on how many parcels change hands year to year, and on what those parcels' value is according to the market. Looking back over the past several years, if we had had in place Alameda's higher rates, Emeryville could have collected between $800,000 - $13 million/year, instead of the current $38,000 - $600,000/year. These fees are paid when a property is sold, and are often split by the seller and buyer as closing costs.
March 18: City Council directed staff to bring back a charter city ballot measure. Staff report is here.
April 22: City Council approved the "narrow" or limited charter city idea, and directed staff to engage a consultant to poll on this ballot measure, along with the range of Property Transfer Tax we would consider. Staff report is here.
I hope you will support the charter city measure and the property transfer tax to help Emeryville find new funds to continue to improve our city.
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