Oakland’s Measure E, which would tax homes at $192 a year to fund services, trails in early voting

Oakland voters were rejecting a new tax on residential properties that city leaders had hoped would plug a hole in this year’s budget, early returns indicated Tuesday night.

As of 10:45 p.m., 54% of voters had voted against Measure E, a parcel tax expected to raise $34 million a year for the next nine years. The measure needs a majority in favor to pass.

It’s a sign that voters may be fatigued with city leaders asking them to authorize new taxes, which they have done in each of the last three years. The measure would impose a parcel tax of $192 on single-family homes and $131 per multifamily unit.

Oakland had been counting on the funding to add staff to address illegal dumping and homeless encampments, replace fire engines and ambulances and restore some of the shelter beds that the city lost earlier this year.

Without it, the city has said it anticipates freezing vacant positions and closing around 190 shelter beds for the homeless, though no layoffs are anticipated.

If Measure E doesn’t pass, it would be the first time that Oakland voters have rejected a new parcel tax since November 2011. That year, 63% voted against a five-year parcel tax that would have charged $80 per single-family home.  

A campaign backed by Oakland’s staff labor unions spent $1.1 million over the past year to help gather signatures and campaign for Measure E.

The opposition to the measure raised around $400,000, mostly from groups like the California Association of Realtors and real estate investors like Carmel Partners. Businesses and major landlords stand to pay significantly more under the tax – for example, Carmel’s 633-unit downtown apartment building, would pay some $84,000 under the measure.

But in Oakland, where nearly 3 in 5 residents are renters, new parcel and property taxes tend to pass.

Measure E would be the fourth new tax in three years that voters have signed off on. In April 2025, voters approved Measure A, which raised the city’s sales tax from 10.25% to 10.75% and is expected to generate about $30 million a year for the general fund over the next decade. In November 2024, voters approved a special assessment on properties in the Oakland hills to fund wildfire prevention, as well as Measure NN, which increased parcel taxes to help pay for public safety services.

As of the 2023 fiscal year, Oakland was collecting some $2,086 in taxes per resident – the highest per-capita revenue collection among cities of its size, according to a report by SPUR, a Bay Area public policy group.

The parcel tax still doesn’t solve Oakland’s long-term structural deficit, which is mainly driven by rising retiree pension liabilities and insurance costs. To cover rising expenses, the city has been drawing down reserves and relying on one-time funding sources, including federal COVID-19 relief funds.

Measure E needs a simple majority to pass because it qualified for the ballot as a citizens initiative. Critics of the measure said it was a loophole city leaders exploited that lowered the threshold required to pass to a simple majority, rather than the two-thirds threshold required for parcel taxes placed directly on the ballot by the council.

Despite support for the parcel tax from staff unions like Service Employees Union International Local 1021 and the firefighters union, one group of city employees has been quiet: the city’s police union.

The Oakland Police Officers Association has not offered support for Measure E, even though if it passes, Mayor Barbara Lee has said she aims to use $6.9 million to pay for 22 additional sworn officers and $3.8 million for a 27-week police academy to recruit new officers.

Just two years ago, the police union backed a different parcel tax, Measure NN. But that measure had a provision that made it more favorable to the association: it required about $25 million of the $47 million it brought to be directed to the police department and required the city to adhere to a minimum staffing level of 700 sworn officers.

Measure E was designed to be more flexible – the money raised will go into the general fund, rather than to specific departments.

A person familiar with the police union said that was a sticking point. Some members also feel the city broke its promises related to minimum staffing levels: Lee’s proposed 2026-27 budget includes funding for just 678 sworn officers, an increase from its current level of 604, but still not meeting the 700 required by NN.

Other measures pass

Measure C, which would provide a one-year tax holiday for existing small businesses grossing under $1 million annually, and eliminate up to $1 million in gross receipts taxes for new businesses of any size, passed with 76.4% of voters approving in early returns. The measure requires a simple majority to pass, and it can be renewed for up to three years by the city council.

“Tonight it is clear the voters agreed with us that we must support small business and encourage new businesses to move to Oakland,” said Council Member Zac Unger, who co-sponsored the measure.

Voters also signed off on Measure D, an amendment to the city’s charter that will expand eligibility for the board of the Oakland Police and Fire Retirement System, a pension plan that covers sworn police and firefighters hired before 1976. Since the retirement system is part of the City Charter, any changes to its governance must be approved by voters. Early returns showed 73.5% of voters in favor of the amendment.  

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This article originally published at Oakland’s Measure E, which would tax homes at $192 a year to fund services, trails in early voting.