2024. 07.22 Speaker Cards-PC - Laserfiche WebLink

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July 22, 2024 The Honorable Jeff Gee, Mayor The Honorable Lissette Espinoza-Garnica, Vice Mayor The Honorable Alicia C. Aguirre, Councilmember The Honorable Kaia Eakin, Councilmember The Honorable Diane Howard, Councilmember The Honorable Elmer Martinez Saballos, Councilmember The Honorable Chris Sturken, Councilmember City of Redwood City, California 1017 Middlefield Road Redwood City, CA 94063 RE: Opposition to Agenda Item 7.A. Dear Mayor Gee, Vice Mayor Espinoza-Garnica and Members of Council: Chamber San Mateo County has written to and communicated with you and City staff numerous times regarding the City’s evaluation of proposals for modifications to the business license tax. At your meeting on July 22, 2024, Council agenda item 7.A. includes the ad-hoc committee and staff recommendations to modify the current business license tax model to increase the per-employee rates for up to $250 in Professional Services and set a cap at $500,000 for businesses. We recognize that the fiscal reality the city is facing is concerning, and the Chamber has remained supportive of conversations by Council and staff to ensure sound finances for the preservation of city services. We applaud the ad-hoc committee’s abandonment of the original Council direction to pursue a gross receipts tax and we appreciate how this represents you have been listening to your business community. However, the upper limit of $250 per-employee and a cap of $500,000 is still too high and risks putting Redwood City at a competitive disadvantage to other cities – especially with the glut of available office space on the Peninsula and Redwood City’s current office vacancy rate as outlined in the attached Almanac article about office vacancy rates. It is for these reasons that Chamber San Mateo County opposes the current recommendation and calls upon Council to reject the staff recommendation. Just last Monday the City of Foster City, city council held a robust discussion and adopted a cap that was 50% less than what staff had been recommending due to concerns about competitiveness and business attraction and retention. Attached is the San Mateo Daily Journal article about that meeting In addition to its obligation to provide safety, cultural, infrastructure, sanitation and recreation services for residents, the City also has a responsibility to create a robust, competitive and welcoming environment that fosters business attraction and economic growth. With this proposal being offered for Council consideration to update the business license tax, the City is wading into the territory of neglect of this economic responsibility. Proposing per-employee rates that are too high and a cap that is excessive exploits businesses singularly and the broader business community collectively.