San Jose voters to make decisions on police reform, gambling taxes
The City Council has decided to place two measures on the November ballot
San Jose voters in November will be asked to raise taxes on card rooms, provide the city’s independent police auditor with more power and expand the city’s planning commission.
After nixing a proposed “strong mayor” ballot measure last week, the San Jose City Council has decided to place two measures on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Although one of the measures focuses entirely on changes to gambling operations within the city, the other measure combines three separate changes to the city’s charter — expanding the authority of the independent police auditor, increasing the number of members on the city’s Planning Commission and allowing the council to establish new timelines to conduct redistricting following a census.
Card rooms
The city’s cardroom revenue measure would raise taxes on the city’s two card rooms — Bay 101 and Casino Matrix — and increase the number of table games in the city by 30 — or 15 per cardroom.
If approved by voters in
November, taxes on card rooms would increase from 15% to 16.5%, generating an additional $15 million annually that would flow into the city’s general fund, according to city estimates.
The San Jose City Council voted 10-1 Tuesday night to put the measure on the ballot, arguing that it would provide welcome revenue to ease budget shortfalls and make San Jose card rooms more competitive with those in other Bay Area cities.
Mayor Sam Liccardo was the only person on the council to vote against placing the measure on the ballot. Although he supported raising card room taxes, he thought that expanding gambling options in the
city could lead to more crime and other social ills such as domestic violence and mental health issues.
“I believe there are ample studies that demonstrate the expansion of gambling is correlated if not causative of serious problems in our community and it’s not worth the long-term costs,” Liccardo said during Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
Under the San Jose city code, the council must get voter approval before expanding gaming activity in San Jose.
In June 2010, voters approved Measure K, which hiked the cardroom tax from 13% to 15% and increased
the maximum number of card tables per card room from 40 to 49.
Amendments to the city charter
Under the city’s second ballot measure, amendments would be made to three separate areas of the city charter.
The measure would increase the number of members on the city’s Planning Commission from seven to 11.
The idea — championed by members of the Latino caucus on the council — is part of a greater effort to increase more racial and geographical diversity on the commission, which historically has been filled by residents from mostly white, wealthier neighborhoods.
Secondly, it would allow members of the council to enact a new ordinance giving it the authority to establish timelines for redistricting after it receives results from the census.
Most notably, it would amend the city charter to expand the power of the independent police auditor, including allowing the unredacted review of officer-involved shootings and use-of-force incidents that resulted in death or significant bodily injury and the review of department-initiated investigations against police officers — changes which the San Jose Police Officers Association already has agreed to.
Liccardo conceived the idea following protests by San Jose residents in early June over the death
of George Floyd, which were met with an aggressive response from officers on the city’s police force and led hundreds of residents to call for defunding the city’s Police Department.
Although Liccardo did not support defunding the city’s force, he issued a detailed plan of police reforms that included expanding the powers of the independent police auditor.
The city and the police officers association reached an agreement regarding the expansion of the independent auditor’s review authority in June, including to allow the auditor access to certain unredacted and redacted records.
But a city charter amendment is required to provide the auditor with the authority to do any further review.
The city had set aside $2.7 million for the November election — or enough funding for two ballot measures, according to City Clerk Toni Taber.
So rather than reallocate funding from an already tightly strapped budget, the City Council decided to combine the three items into one measure and stay within its budget.
“I think the community knows equity when they see it in terms of the Planning Commission, I think the Planning Commission dovetails into redistricting as it’s going into the redistricting process and I think, frankly, the community understands the need for IPA reform,” Council member Maya Esparza said in support of combining the items into a single measure on the ballot.