Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao speaks at police headquarters in Oakland, Calif., Friday, Dec. 29, 2023. Union representatives spoke Tuesday morning in front of City Hall to insist that city officials should instead address all the tax money they haven’t collected from local businesses — one of several revenue streams that are falling far short of earlier projections.
But union representatives point to the taxes that local businesses haven’t paid on their licenses, which had reached $34 million over the past three fiscal years through the end of March. City officials insist the $34 million total is misleading, given that the number may have changed since it was reported publicly in March, though it’s unclear by how much.
The more immediate budget problem when it comes to the shortfall is that the city’s finance team is overestimating its projections of future tax revenue, leading the revenue to come up way short in reality. This was also a major cause of Nearly two years later, the city has indeed seen a net increase in revenue from the business tax, but fewer businesses are paying up.
Zac Unger, the president of the Oakland firefighters union, said layoffs weren’t likely to be an issue among firefighters. But at Tuesday’s rally, he worried aloud that the city may close down one or more fire stations from the two dozen in operation.