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File Number: 20-334 <br />recently-hired employees; <br />·Holding the line on the addition of new City staffing (the City presently maintains <br />approximately 15% less staff than it had in place over a decade ago); <br />·Creation of a new program (Prioritization of Unfunded Liability Liquidation, or “PULL”) to <br />set aside funds towards the costs of the City’s long-term unfunded liabilities. <br />Nevertheless, in order to address the City’s long-term budgetary challenges, the City Council also <br />expressed a desire to also explore ways of generating new revenues, in addition to further <br />exploring additional expenditure reductions beyond those that have already been implemented. <br />The City’s budgetary challenges are further exacerbated by the onset of the coronavirus <br />pandemic and related public health measures, which have resulted in significant revenue losses. <br />Indeed, in the current fiscal year alone, the City forecasts a loss of approximately $9 million in <br />previously anticipated revenue. <br />In line with direction from the City Council, City staff have been undertaking over the past year a <br />program of community engagement to discuss and gather input from the public on City service <br />priorities and potential efforts to increase revenue. To assist in these efforts, the City contracted <br />with Godbe Research to conduct two separate feasibility polls to gauge potential public support <br />for a variety of potential revenue measures and to provide a quantitative assessment of voter <br />support. The first of those polls was conducted in June 2019. <br />At the February 11, 2020 City Council retreat, City staff presented the results of community <br />surveying/polling that was completed in June 2019. That 2019 polling work tested the viability of <br />several new revenue options including: a public safety parcel tax, an increase to the real property <br />transfer tax (RPTT) at varying rates, and a vacant property tax, each of which would require voter <br />approval. Out of those various taxes, the real property transfer tax appeared to be the most viable <br />while also having the capacity to generate sufficient levels of new revenue to substantively <br />mitigate the City’s budgetary deficit. At the conclusion of the February 11, 2020 presentation on <br />this matter, the City Council directed staff to continue moving forward with exploration of a <br />potential increase in the real property transfer tax as part of the November 2020 election. Based <br />on that direction, staff returned to the City Council on April 20, 2020 and received direction to <br />work with Clifford Moss and Godbe Research to provide strategic project management support <br />and to facilitate an additional revenue measure feasibility tracking poll in Spring 2020. <br />Godbe Research conducted a second poll in late May/early June 2020 to test the viability of a <br />potential increase in the RPTT, which is a transaction tax collected when real estate is sold or <br />purchased and ownership transfers from one party to another. Those poll results were <br />subsequently presented publicly at the July 6, 2020 City Council meeting. <br />Summary of 2020 Public Opinion and Community Survey Results: <br />Public opinion survey results indicated majority community support exists for increasing the real <br />property transfer tax rate in order to protect and maintain local services such as: <br />·Repairing potholes and rehabilitating City streets; <br />·Supporting local small businesses and residents through the economic recovery from the <br />Page 2 City of San Leandro Printed on 7/15/2020 <br />373