Pleasanton council to review public poll for half cent sales tax increase

The Pleasanton City Council will be receiving an update on the city’s public engagement efforts to gauge the possibility of putting a half cent sales tax increase measure on the November ballot during Tuesday’s council meeting.

According to the agenda report, city staff will be going over the results of a community survey and reviewing how staff have been gathering information while also educating different stakeholders in the city on why the city would need the half cent tax increase.

“The city is facing a severe and increasing structural deficit, meaning that expenses have and will continue to grow faster than revenues,” according to the staff report. “Current forecasts indicate an average budget shortfall of approximately $13 million annually over the next eight years, which City staff has been working to address proactively with a combination of reduced costs and new revenue.”

The city had identified a structural budget shortfall in early 2023 which goes back several years and is caused by many different factors. That’s why the council decided last year to have staff conduct a public opinion poll to “seek input from the community regarding Pleasanton’s service priorities and identify potential revenue options,” according to staff.

After exploring new possible revenue sources in that poll, staff then presented the option of placing a half cent sales tax increase on the November ballot during the Dec. 5, 2023 meeting — placing the revenue measure on the ballot would still need to be approved by the council.

Since that meeting, the council had directed staff to launch a comprehensive outreach campaign to “engage, inform, gather, and listen to input from residents and stakeholders on city needs and the proposed plan to meet those needs,” according to the staff report.

During the first half of the year, staff have been engaging with the community and meeting with community leaders, groups and organizations to raise awareness of the city’s budget deficit and gather both questions and feedback from those stakeholders for the council.

Staff will be presenting an overview of those efforts during Tuesday’s meeting.

According to the staff report, the city conducted a community survey where more than 3,100 residents ranked what they thought were city priorities. Protecting 911 emergency services and maintaining public safety service and facilities were the two most highly-ranked priorities with repairing and maintaining local roads coming in third.

As for all the community meetings, the top themes expressed in those by residents were around preserving essential services and comparing tax rates and related economic impacts, according to staff.

Following Tuesday’s meeting, staff will continue conducting its second public opinion poll — which began in mid-May — to assess the viability of a half cent tax measure. The results of the statistically valid survey will be presented to the council at its June 18 meeting.

The City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday (June 4). The full agenda can be accessed here.

In other business:

* The council will be looking at, and possibly waiving, a first reading of an ordinance to approve a sixth amendment to the development agreement that the city has with the owners of the Stoneridge Shopping Center.

According to the staff report, the amendment will enable Simon Property Group, one of the property owners, to continue exploring commercial expansion of the shopping center.

This amendment/extension of the DA will enable Stoneridge Properties (Simon Property Group) to continue exploring the commercial expansion of the Stoneridge Shopping Center, which in turn would help the city’s tax base and allow the continued vitality of the shopping center. 

The existing development agreement, which according to the staff report is a contract authorized by state law that provides property owners with more certainty about entitlements and obligations that apply to their property, had originally approved a 362,790-square-foot shopping center expansion.

According to the existing agreement, which will not be altered after this sixth amendment, the city will not have to provide infrastructure or any other fees required by the new project. 

The main reason Simon Property Group wants a sixth extension is because it needs more time to assess the changes in the retail market given the impacts of the pandemic and online shopping. It also needed more time given the fact that the city is looking to the shopping center for more housing developments after the city zoned the location for housing during its sixth cycle Housing Element and has continued to work on the framework for developing that housing.

The key terms of the proposal is that Simon Property Group will extend the term to six months with potential additional extensions of either 18 months or two years, and a further potential extension of two years after the first two.

Simon Property Group would pay a minimum of $50,000 contribution to the city in support of its efforts to advance the overall planning for the mall while simultaneously trying to get matching funding from the other mall owners to support the planning effort.

If the property owner can get the other mall owners to put in $150,000 then the development agreement will be extended for another 18 months — if Simon Property Group comes up with the $150,000 then the agreement will be extended another 24 months.

“With Simon Property Group contributing a minimum of $50,000 toward the Stoneridge Mall Framework, and up to a maximum of $200,000 (or alternatively, the other mall owners contributing $150,000), progress should accelerate toward the milestones in this amendment,” according to the staff report.

The Planning Commission voted during its May 8 meeting to recommend the sixth amendment. 

“Staff believes the shopping center will continue to evolve and remain competitive in the current development environment, and staff supports the request for the amendment/extension to the (development agreement) and recommends the city council introduce the ordinance to approve the proposed Sixth Amendment,” according to the staff report.

* City staff will be presenting an update on their efforts to implement the ONE Pleasanton five-year citywide strategic plan, which was approved by the council on Oct. 3. According to staff, the policy document defines the city’s vision, mission and values while also identifying  citywide goals, strategies and implementation actions over the next five years.

British-style pub opens its doors in downtown PleasantonMay 12, 2026 7:00 am

San Ramon couple opens boutique winery in Livermore Valley20 hours ago

Planning Commission to consider appeals on gas station rebrand, home construction project20 hours ago