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Albany directs staff to draft street paving and storm-drain parcel tax and research a trigger tied to large parcel status
Summary
Facing a likely revenue loss if Golden Gate Fields becomes nontaxable, council directed staff to develop a ballot measure to replace/update the street paving and storm-drain parcel tax, asked staff to pursue a land-square-footage basis and to research trigger language that would change the tax structure only if a very large parcel becomes nontaxable.
Council members on June 1 directed staff to prepare a ballot measure updating Albany's street paving and storm-drain special parcel tax after staff warned that the anticipated transfer of Golden Gate Fields to a public owner could remove nearly 21% of the measure's current revenue.
Public works Director Mark Hurley and consultant Amanda Welker presented two models to maintain a $1.4 million revenue target: a modified equivalent-residential-unit (ERU) approach with a 5,000-square-foot cap and a flat per-square-foot rate (6.38 cents per square foot) that spreads the lost revenue across all parcels. Under either approach, Golden Gate Fields' current contribution (~$289,000) would fall substantially if it became nontaxable; staff modeled scenarios in which its share shrinks to roughly $48,000.
Council members debated fairness and political feasibility. Some favored a per-land-square-foot basis on equity grounds (paving wear and aging are largely a function of land area and not number of residents), while staff noted the ERU approach is more straightforward near-term and flagged large changes for particular vacant lots. Council ultimately voted to proceed with developing a parcel-tax measure based on land square footage and requested city attorney analysis of whether a trigger could be written so that the new structure would take effect only if a parcel larger than 500,000 square feet becomes nontaxable.
Public commenters raised concerns about tying the parcel tax to projects such as bike lanes, requesting explicit ballot language specifying that funds be used for paving and storm-drain work. Staff said the measure funds core paving and storm-drain work but that pedestrian safety or bike-lane projects could be funded from identified sources separately.
