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l Minutes - San Leandro City Council Meeting - March 15, 1993 Page - 24 - NEW BUSINESS (continued) Craig Bettencourt, 1750 Scenic View Court, Revenue Sub-Committee Chairperson, spoke regarding the real estate lobby who had spoken at the meeting. He said the Task Force did not look at the Transfer Tax as an open checkbook. He said the Transfer Tax would represent 6/10 of 1% or $1,200 on a $200,000 house. He said real estate agents make 6% or $12,000 on a $200,000 house. He said perhaps the real estate agents should kick back some of their commission to help fund the Transfer Tax. He said $1 ,200 does not make or break a sale. He favored the Utility Tax and said, if the City Council adopts the Utility Tax this year, it would wipe out the worst case and also save fire apparatus. He said he moved back to San Leandro and would be willing to pay more taxes to live here. He said the City has excellent fire and police services. He said the City should not look at just cutting but should look at keeping the services it already has. He suggested that the City Council speed up the matter of Marina user fees. He said people would be willing to pay more taxes if they understood where the money was going and that they were getting their money's worth. Susan Riskind-Poulsen, 182 Sunnyside Drive, Member of the Revenue Sub- Committee, said there was a good deal of debate regarding the two taxes, and the Committee looked at a number of taxes and tried to determine which would be the safest. for the City to keep the dollars they received from those taxes. She said the Committee did not want to go to a special assessment. She said, regarding the Transfer Tax, the Committee looked at the fact that it only comes into effect as part of a much larger transaction, and the impact of the Tax is not one that keeps a person from making a deal . She noted many lending institutions are putting forward zero, no-point, no-closing-costs loans. She said three years ago there was a major real estate boom, and the major beneficiaries were Oakland and Berkeley, who had much larger Transfer Taxes than San Leandro is proposing, and it did not keep prices from going up. She said people move to San Leandro because of the fine quality of life, and she said that quality of life can be maintained by having a tax that is a small amount of a much larger transaction. Jeff McGallian, 13985 Tahiti Road, thanked the Mayor and City Council for the opportunity to serve on the Task Force. He said it was important to learn how the City operates and how staff deals with various issues. He spoke regarding Mrs. Ruha's comments and said he feels Pat McClellan is an unsung working individual who puts in a lot of work and effort and is extremely knowledgeable. He said Mr. McClellan has obtained quite a few grants and is continuing to do so. He said Mr. McClellan needs an assistant. He said the arks are important because homes will not be useable. He said the arks will be serviced by the Red Cross, and they will be able to go out into the community. He said the community would be cut off from everybody else and, without the arks, they will not be able to survive. He suggested that people go to Mr. McClellan's office and find out what he is doing and needs to do in order to prepare the community. He said he hopes the package before the City Council is accepted.