Measure G – unanimously approved by Mountain View City Council to appear on eligible-to-vote residents’ ballots in the Nov. 5 election – is an attempt to provide long term future funding to supplement a city budget that, although stable, is experiencing minimal growth.
The measure, approved by City Council on June 25 – two weeks after extensive discussions regarding the state of the city’s budget – will provide funding to a handful of capital improvement, city infrastructure projects and needs as Mountain View’s budget remains steady with minimal growth.
Funds from the bond will provide for future needs, from disaster and emergency response to preserving and developing affordable housing, road and sidewalk repairs, parks and open spaces, pedestrian and bicyclist safety and reaching sustainability goals.
The measure would raise the city’s pre-existing, voter-approved property transfer tax on homes that cost more than $6 million.
The tax will be no more than $15 per $1,000, “Generating about $9,500,000 in locally controlled funding annually until ended by voters, with independent audits,” according to measure language included in the Nov. 5 ballot.
Councilmembers who comprised an Ad Hoc Committee, including Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak and councilmembers Emily Ann Ramos and Lucas Ramirez, explored different avenues to add to the city budget. The council members ultimately decided the best course of action was to introduce a high-cost property transfer-related charge as it “would have little impact on the average resident and help to maintain critical services and plan for future needs,” according to the city Measure G webpage.
Ramirez said the city initially considered a hotel, or transient occupancy tax, which would have little impact on residents. However, a survey of tax options showed a high percentage of residents opposed, surprising officials.
“We don’t want to create financial hardships on our residents,” Ramirez said in an interview with the Town Crier.
In the five years preceding 2024, there were only 62 transactions valued over $6 million. “Of the 62 transactions, only two (2) were single-family residential transactions and the remainder were commercial transactions,” according to the city.
“We did a lot of stakeholder outreach,” Ramirez said. “(The) $6 million threshold (was) recommended by the Silicon Valley Association of realtors.”
He added that the city’s budget is expected to dip into a deficit in the upcoming years.
The city budget’s revenues are expected to increase by 1.8% ($3.3 million) while expenditures are expected to grow for fiscal year 2024-25 by 6.6% ($11.3 million), compared to the previous year’s adopted budget.
According to previous reporting, local economic uncertainty is being caused by home sales, record-level commercial vacancy rates, elevated interest rates, persistent inflation, rising costs, the state’s $45 billion deficit affecting federal funds and international conflicts.
One of the biggest losses of city revenue was decreasing the business license tax, City Manager Kimbra McCarthy said during a June city council meeting.
Because the business license tax is a headcount tax, and with big companies laying off large numbers of employees over the years, it’s resulted in a 15% decrease for the city.
