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The Pleasanton City Council is set next week to review public polling results about a potential half-cent sales tax increase as well as draft language for what the proposed measure could look like on the November ballot.Â
According to the staff report for next Tuesday’s regular meeting, the council will also be looking at the draft resolution and ordinance that are required to place the half-cent sales tax measure on the general election ballot in the hopes of helping address the city’s growing budget deficit.
“Approval of a 1/2-cent sales tax increase would improve the city’s ability to provide the level of services Pleasanton residents have consistently said they want,” according to the staff report. “The proposed measure would provide the city with a guaranteed source of local funding for vital city services that will stay local.”
Over the last two years, the city has been facing what it states is a severe and increasing structural deficit where expenses are growing faster than its revenues. Staff say this is being caused by several factors including increases in costs, slowing of real estate development, declining retail sales and reduced hotel tax revenue ever since the pandemic took a heavy toll on the hotel business.
“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,” according to the staff report.
The city’s infrastructure is also aging which brings its own financial burdens.
According to the staff report, the city has implemented strategies to save money such as not hiring new people, limiting new service contacts, not starting new programs, and even approving $2.5 million in reductions from the upcoming fiscal year’s budget.
“As the city continues to transition from a growing city to a mature community, the rate of necessary revenue increases is no longer occurring,” the staff report states. “Over the years, the city has implemented cost-saving measures to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs, including merging departments and operations, providing lower pension and retiree medical benefits to employees, implementing energy and water efficiency projects and establishing a pension trust to pay down the city’s unfunded liability.”
However, even after all that, staff believe a half cent sales tax increase is the best way to address these budget shortfalls.
“Sales tax revenues are paid by out-of-town visitors patronizing the city’s retail, dining, lodging and entertainment businesses, as do local residents,” according to the staff report. “Costs generated by visitors who impact Pleasanton’s local infrastructure can appropriately be supported through a local sales tax measure.”
The deliberations all started back in 2023 when the council directed staff to conduct a public opinion poll last September to seek input from the community regarding the city’s service priorities and to identify potential options for increasing revenues.
After the city explored other revenue source options, the focus shifted to the possibility of placing the half-cent sales tax increase on the November 2024 ballot.
That’s why during a December meeting, the council directed staff to launch a comprehensive outreach plan to “engage, inform, gather, and listen to input from residents and other stakeholders on city needs and the proposed plan to meet these needs.”
Staff met with community leaders and local community groups to talk about the budget deficit and to gather questions and feedback for the City Council. Those engagement results were presented to the council during the June 4 meeting.
A second public opinion poll was then conducted in May to reassess the viability of the half-cent sales tax measure, which the results of the poll will be presented during Tuesday’s meeting.
The council will also be providing staff direction on the content of legislation that would be approved at a future council meeting set to be held no later than July 16 and will discuss the content of information that will be used to communicate with residents regarding the sales tax measure.
The City Council meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday (June 18). The full agenda can be accessed here.
In other business:
* During the consent calendar, which are items considered routine and typically approved through a single vote, the council will be looking to adopt an ordinance that would give one of the main property owners and leading developer of the Stoneridge Mall more time to gather up the money needed to fund the planning of the mall’s future.
The ordinance, which would amend and extend the city’s development agreement with the mall owners, was first waived during the June 4 council meeting after the council reached the consensus that they want to see some progress on the development agreement’s plan to expand and further develop the entire shopping center.
* During the consent calendar, the council will be voting on approving a one-year extension to the city’s professional services agreement with All City Management Services, which provides crossing guards to the school district.
The third amendment to the existing agreement, which is set to expire next month, will allow the city to fund the crossing guard services for the 2024-25 school year by increasing the total amount of the agreement by $663,327 — bringing the total amount of the agreement to $2,951,781. This comes after the city has discussed the possibility of sharing costs for these services with the school district because the city cannot continue to fully fund the program after this extension.
* Similar to the crossing guards, the council will be looking during the consent calendar to approve a one-year extension to the district’s memorandum of understanding with the city in regards to the School Resource Officer program.
The three year memorandum, which is set to expire at the end of this month, has it so the city pays 100% of the cost to provide officers for the schools. Just like the crossing guards, the city needs to look at possibly sharing costs with the district as the city faces budget challenges.
* Also during the consent calendar, the council will be looking to approve a third amendment to the professional services agreement it has with Bonita House Inc., which provides mental health clinicians for the police department’s Alternative Response Unit.
The amendment will increase the agreement amount by $347,972 and make it so the organization must continue to provide clinicians to the unit, which handles mental health calls in the city, until June 2025 for a total cost of $1,123,916 over the three-year term of the agreement.
* As part of its consent calendar, the council will be voting on approving an agreement between the city and the Zone 7 Water Agency to perform the first phase of the Regional Groundwater Facilities Project.
The Regional Groundwater Facilities Project is a joint endeavor between the city and Zone 7 that aims to increase the water agency’s groundwater production capacity for the Tri-Valley, recover the city’s groundwater production and produce water that is not contaminated and exceeds water quality standards. The agreement in front of the council on Tuesday outlines cost sharing between the two agencies and will outline the first steps of the project, which will be a lot of site analysis, test drilling and prepping for the next two phases of the project.
* The council will be receiving a proclamation to recognize Pleasanton’s 130th anniversary of incorporation.
New retail, dining options coming to Stoneridge Shopping Center later this yearApril 19, 2026 9:24 pm
