2018 Potential General Revenue Measures

City leaders want to maintain and enhance the quality of life for all who live, visit and conduct business in Mountain View. Continuing our long tradition of forward-thinking and thorough planning, the City Council is evaluating options for funding long term needs, including critical transportation projects. Since January of this year, the City has been assessing community support for three potential revenue measures for the November 2018 Ballot:

• Option 1: Increase the City's Transient Occupancy Tax (hotel tax)
• Option 2: Restructuring the existing Business License Tax
• Option 3: Establish a local cannabis tax

During the June 5 Council Meeting, Councilmembers decided to proceed with follow-up polling and potential placement of two of the revenue measures, which may be placed before voters during the November 2018 General Election. The two measures were:

• General purpose business license tax generating approximately $6 million annually
• General purpose cannabis tax of up to 9% on gross receipts
  

Community Outreach and Surveys

As part of the work plan to evaluate possible measures for the 2018 Ballot, the City has been conducting targeted outreach to hotel, cannabis and employer stakeholders, as well as the community at large.

 

Upcoming Input Opportunity: 

The City is conducting a public opinion survey of Mountain View residents on potential ballot measures for the 2018 General Election. You may have already been contacted via email or telephone or may be contacted in the coming weeks.

 

Your input is highly valuable to the City’s future planning and we encourage you to participate and contribute your opinion in this survey. Respondents are randomly selected to participate in this survey and responses will be completely confidential.  The identity of individual respondents and their individual answers to survey questions will not be shared by the polling company with any City officials. 

The next opportunity for public input on the revenue measures is at the June 26, 2018 City Council meeting.  The City Council will be making its final decisions on what, if any, measures are put forward to voters on the November 208 ballot.  

Previous Input: Over the past several months, several meetings have been held with stakeholders and the community. In addition, a public opinion poll and a survey on Open City Hall were conducted.

• June 5 City Council Meeting 
• May 29 Public Input Meeting at City Hall
• Public Opinion Poll Findings (PDF)
• Open City Hall Survey Results

In addition, the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce held a poll with the business community on key parameters of a potential business license tax and spending priorities. The results of the survey can be found here.

Why we need new revenue measures

Since 2013, City leaders have discussed options for funding significant capital projects and how to maintain and improve services for our growing community. In particular, there are many critical and costly transportation projects such as:

• Automated Guideway Transit for North Bayshore
• Two rail and road grade separation projects (Rengstorff Avenue and Castro Street)
• Transit center update to accommodate increased ridership
• New Charleston Road undercrossing
• Connecting NASA light rail station to North Bayshore
• Active Transportation projects (improvements that are not auto-centric, such as prioritizing pedestrians and bicycles)
• Bernardo Under-crossing
• Mountain View Community Shuttle expansion

Community Input:

The public opinion poll on spending priorities indicated the community's top priorities are affordable housing, public safety and homelessness. There are also more than 40 unfunded projects, totaling nearly $100 million on the City's Capital Improvement Program (CIP).

Ad-Hoc Subcommittee on Revenue Measures

In January 2018, City Council appointed a three-member Council subcommittee to serve in an advisory role to staff in implementing a work plan. The subcommittee has focused its work and discussions on conducting community outreach and the potential methodology for restructuring the City's business license tax.

• Link to ad-hoc subcommittee agendas and supplemental materials

 

Related Council Reports

(ordered newest first)

• April 17, 2018 – Potential Revenue Measures for 2018 Ballot
• January 23, 2018 – Work Plan for Possible Revenue Measures
• December 5, 2017 – Revenue Measure Options for Potential Transportation or Other Capital Improvement Projects
• November 5, 2013 – (Study Session) Unmet Capital Improvement Projects: Voter Survey Results and Consideration of Funding Options
• May 27, 2013 – (Study Session) Consideration of Funding Options for Unmet Capital Improvement Projects
• May 20, 2012 – (Study Session) Long Term Funding Options for Capital Improvement Projects

Questions and Feedback

For questions about the Potential Revenue Measures contact Sheila Tucker at Sheila.Tucker@mountainview.gov or use AskMV.

Periodic updates are also available by following the City Hall social media channels, which may be found at www.MountainView.gov/social .