City Backs Off LLAD Tax Hike

At a special July 22, 2008 meeting, the Oakland city council voted not to collect the Landscape and Lighting Assessment (LLAD) tax increase that it previously declared voters had approved.

The decision is a $12 million victory for Oakland residents, who expressed broad outrage at the blatant ballot-box stuffing in a mail-in vote that City Hall conducted in April and May.

However, no councilmember admitted that she condoned and participated in the vote rigging. Instead, the council took cover under a state supreme court ruling on assessment districts in general issued last week.

Before the vote, one resident told the council, "If the press play on this matter starts to become bigger, the last thing Oakland needs is more loss of credibility and more scandal." He was referring to the Deborah Edgerly affair, the county grand jury expose of credit card abuse, the KTVU report on mayor Dellums' luxury living and short working hours, and more.

Another resident told the councilmembers, "You need to apologize" for stuffing the ballot box. They did not. In fact, councilmember Kernighan went out of her way to insist that the LLAD election was conducted properly. She said giving the City's Port about a million extra votes was just fine. Her pugnacious disrespect for the people of Oakland was not well founded, however. She disclosed that the council in closed session had considered going to court itself to get a ruling on its vote count, in effect trying to pre-empt an imminent legal challenge from some voter. With the state supreme court ruling, however, Kernighan conceded the tactic was doomed.

The failure to ram through a LLAD tax hike that would not even help parks is a particular failure for councilmember Quan. She failed to pass a LLAD increase in 2006. She insisted to her colleagues that there be a LLAD vote this Spring. Having lost her wild proposal for a $100 million palace library (Measure N), too, Quan's reputation as the tax queen is tarnished.

At the July 22 meeting, the council voted to leave the LLAD tax at its current level. The council did not rescind its banana-republic certification that voters "approved" an increase. It was a bitter moment. No councilmember made any self-criticism. The decision did not reveal any change in the political character of any councilmember.

Oakland residents have learned a lot about City Hall during this fight. Oakland residents won a victory. The movement for priority on public safety, for clean government, for an end to soaking poor and middle income citizens continues.

City owns this vacant lot on 71st Ave., zoned single family, and gave it a LLAD vote of 169.

City gave this private home across the street a LLAD vote of 67. If the increase had passed, both properties would have paid the same amount of tax.

Read comments during this controversy by Oakland residents here.

Councilmember Misrepresents and Threatens

In her weekly newsletter for Aug. 4, 2008, councilmember Jean Quan writes:

Council Rescinds Increase for LLAD on the basis of last month's State Supreme Court Decision, which overturned an open space initiative in the South Bay and set new, more stringent standards for establishing Prop 218 assessment districts. The judge seems to indicate that each home's benefits must be calculated individually, eg. how close is it to open space, etc. It will probably not be clear what new standards will be allowed for Prop 218 districts for some time. The Oakland Council rescinded the June vote that had authorized an increase in the Landscaping and Lighting Assessment District (LLAD). It would have raised about $12 million, the current gap in what the city spends on these services. Given the anticipated budget shortfalls, cuts in park, tree, medians, and lighting services are probably unavoidable.

One paragraph, but loaded with distortion and threat:

• Notice there is no mention of City Hall's ballot-stuffing nor of residents' outrage over it. While the state supreme court ruling is welcome, it is not the only reason that the council backed off collecting a LLAD tax increase.

• The statement claims the council "rescinded the June vote." Nope. Although the council decided not to collect a tax increase this fiscal year, it has not rescinded the false declaration that voters "approved" the proposed increase. If the legal and political climate changes, the resolution is still there, maintaining the lie based on City Hall's vote tampering and smoothing the way for a tax hike later. The June 15, 2008 resolution should be repealed now.

• The paragraph alludes to a "gap" in funds. There is no gap. For as long as there has been a LLAD (since 1989), a combination of general funds and assessment money has been allocated to park maintenance and such.

• Finally, the threat of punishment for voters who refused to accept City Hall's lie that they passed an increase: "cuts in park, tree, medians, and lighting services are probably unavoidable." Oakland has just gone through several months of scandals about City finances: the Deborah Edgerly culture of corruption, favoritism, and high living ... the mayor's example of lavish flower, hotel and other expenses as exposed by KTVU ... department heads giving each other expensive floral arrangements using City credit cards ... the findings of the City auditor pointing to outlandish management perks ...

City officials need to set things on a whole new track, imposing a culture of plain living and efficient operations. But no, the first thing they talk about is cutting basic services. In 1989 before there was a LLAD, the City had 82 gardeners. Today it has 62, while more than 500 positions loaded with managers and bureaucrats were added in that time. The budget crisis is an opportunity to clean out years of drift away from serving the people – but then how would councilmember Quan reward those who participate in her political machinations?