Oakland Measure AA Tax Has $2 Million Collection Administration Cost
Oakland, CA – The Oakland City Council will take up item 12 on the “non-content” calendar that presents one of the most confusing motions ever presented to the City Council. The Oakland Measure AA Tax Motion basically asks the City Council not to approve the collection of just the 1st year of the Measure AA Tax Parcel Tax, but says the City Administrator and the City Attorney will go ahead and make the tax itself valid as per what the last Oakland City Council did.
Wow, talk about a fix. The best thing for the Oakland City Council to do is, right off, present a motion to kill this motion, and then offer up a new motion that simply terminates the Oakland Measure AA Tax, completely.
And What Is The Oakland Measure AA Tax?
The Oakland Measure AA Tax is a parcel tax that’s supposed to raise money for education programs but is in limbo because even though it failed to get the necessary 66.67 percent of the vote last year – just because it got 62 percent, the Mayor of Oakland worked to force its collection, anyway.
Again, the Oakland Measure AA Tax money’s use is vague: for education and college preparation, but does not give a detailed plan, even as it would raise up to $90 million over a three year period, and is a 30-year-bond issue. The City staff didn’t give a full explanation of how much money the tax would raise over a 30-year-period.
On December 14th, 2018, the old Oakland City Council (meaning the one with now departed Oakland Councilmembers Abel Guillen, Annie Campbell Washington, and Desley Brooks) voted to basically try and override voter actions, but a lawsuit was filed against that in Alameda County Superior Court. Now, the new Oakland City Council has to deal with this mess.
The basic need is for homeless programs, not this vague plan that’s designed to be a money grab. Oakland needs to focus, laser-like, in ending the problem of homelessness.
Stay tuned.
And here’s the full video playlist on this Oakland Measure AA issue: