Finance & Management Committee - Special Meeting

Good morning, and welcome to the Finance and Management Committee meeting of today, November 18. The time is now 09:33AM, and this meeting has come to order. Before taking roll, I will provide instructions on how to submit a speaker's card for items on this agenda. If you are here with us in chambers and you would like to submit a speaker's card, please fill one out and turn into a clerk representative to my left, your right. Before the item is read into record, all our speaker requests were due twenty four hours prior to this meeting starting. The meeting came to order at 09:33AM. Speaker cards will no longer be accepted ten minutes after the meeting has begun, making that time 09:43AM. With that, we will now proceed to take roll. Councilmember Brown? Present.

Councilmember Unger? Here. Councilmember Wong? Present. Thank you. And chair Ramachandran?

Present.

We have four members present. And before you begin, chair Ramachandran, do you have any announcements this morning?

No, except to congratulate our new finance director, mister Bradley Johnson, on the new role. And also to our new revenue administrator, Nicole Welch. And that's it. Happy to get started.

Thank you so much and congratulations to everyone as well involved. Thank you. Going to item one, there are no minutes to be approved. Please remember as this is a special meeting. Moving to item two, determination of schedule an outstanding committee items is This is also known as your pending list and there are no speakers for this item.

To administration, any changes? Nothing at this time. Thank you. Okay. I will entertain a motion.

Move approval.

Second. Thank you. I have a motion made by council member Brown, seconded by council member Unger to accept determination to schedule outstanding committee items as is on the roll. Council member Brown? Aye. Councilmember Unger? Aye. Councilmember Wong? Aye. And chair Ramachandran?

Aye. This motion passes with four ayes to accept the termination of scheduled outstanding committee items as is. Moving to item three, adopt an ordinance amending Oakland Municipal Code Title IV, chapter 4.56, vacant property tax to, one, add an exemption of par four parcels that change ownership after assessments, two, require the hearing officer to include findings of fact in the decisions, and, three, establishing a twelve month time time period within each month of parcels deemed vacant assessed, and the vacant property tax must file a petition to reverse the assessment claim and exemption or to seek refund for taxes paid. And you do have two speakers for this item.

New York tax administrator. Today, we bring before you the ordinance. Staff recommends that the city council adopt an ordinance amending Oakland municipal code title four chapter 4.56. Vacant property tax to a, number one, add an exemption for parcels that change ownership after assessment. Two, require the hearing officer to include findings of fact in their decisions.

And three, establish a twelve month time period within which owners of parcels deemed vacant and assess the vacant property tax must file a petition to reverse the assessment, claim an exemption, or to seek a refund of taxes. The proposed changes to the vacant property tax ordinance codified under Oakland municipal code chapter 4.56 would provide clear and uniform standards for the administration and management of the tax. Specifically, staff recommends that city council adopt the proposed ordinance to, one, create an exemption for new owners who who acquire the parcel during or after the year in which the parcel was deemed vacant and therefore was assessed the tax. The exemption would be afforded to those who acquire a parcel oops. Sorry about that.

The exemption would be afforded to those who acquire a parcel via an arms length transaction with less than fifty calendar days in the relevant calendar years in which the tax was assessed. Two, remove the existing discretionary language under OMC section 4.56 dot one one zero section d and replace it with the mandatory language that the hearing officer's decision shall include findings of fact. Three, establish a twelve month statute of limitation to file a petition of vacancy or entitlement to exemption to begin on the due date of the second installment of the secured property tax bill issued by the county of Alameda for the fiscal year in which the tax was assessed. The proposed statute of limitation applies to those who seek to reverse the assessment filed for an exemption and or refund of taxes paid. If you have any questions, we are here to answer them.

Thank you. Colleagues, questions, comments? Okay. Thank you for the presentation. I think these are three very clear cut amendments. Just wanted to uplift that these make a lot of sense, and I appreciate the opportunity to be briefed on this before, and I we can move to public speakers.

Thank you so much. When I call your name, please approach the podium. State your name for the record. If you're participating via Zoom, please raise your hands. They are easily identified. And as a procedure, we will go with in person speakers before Zoom. Mr. Kevin Dally and Derek Barnes.

Okay.

And Derek Barnes, are you with us online? That concludes your public speakers for item three.

Thank you. And to the parliamentarian, this needs can this go to the city council meeting on December 2? Is that okay? Okay. Then I will make the motion to move this to December 2. And I will make a motion to move this to the December 2 full council meeting on consent.

Second.

We have a motion made by chair Ramachandran, second by council member Wong to approve the recommendations of staff and to

forward this item to the 12/02/2025 city council agenda on consent on roll. Council member Brown?

Aye. Council member Unger? My bad. Aye. Thank you. Council member Wong?

Aye.

And chair Wamachandran? Aye. This motion passes with four ayes to accept the termination I mean, to to approve the recommendations of staff and to form this item to the December 2 city council agenda on consent. Moving to item four. Received an informational report from the city administration administrator for their designee of the special revenue collection project, including the hiring and activating work to bring an additional revenue to nonfile businesses. And you do have three speakers for this item.

Thank you. I'll just make a brief comment as one of the coauthors of this before we begin. For context, last year and the year before, there were a lot of concerns about the city's not adequately collecting tax revenue from various businesses. And this is due to a number of factors, including the pandemic, some unofficial policies during the pandemic under different administrations. But one of the things that myself and former council member Kaplan were focused on last year and a little bit of this year was seeing how we can engage with our finance department to really go after and make the businesses that are not paying that should be paying and make sure that we have as close to a 100% payment of our business license taxes.

I'm sure revenue administrator Welch can go into much detail, but very much in in appreciation of your work. In the budget, we did make some projections about potential revenue that could be collected from this project. We also put in a small amount of money to hire someone to be able to pursue this work. This is not the first time that a special revenue project has been done by the city, but it's possibly one of the most important that we're undergoing right now. So I will let you take it away to explain the status on it.

To the committee, Nicole Welch, revenue and tax administrator. Today, I bring before you an oral report of the measures that we have taken. I have made a couple of notes, so if I'm looking down, that is what I'm actually reading. On 08/04/2025, an annuitant was onboarded to do the following actions, revitalize the revenue management bureau's outreach and education program, reestablish and expand the revenue management bureau's outreach and education efforts to improve taxpayer awareness and compliance, engage with all of Oakland's business chambers of commerce, strengthen partnerships with local chamber of commerce to foster a collaboration, share information, and support business tax compliance initiatives, develop a comprehensive field activity program, design and implement a structured field activity program for tax enforcement officer twos to enhance on the ground enforcement and business engagement, produce targeted outreach media, create and distribute educational materials via flyers, billboards, and commercials to inform businesses about Oakland's tax obligations and filing requirements, analyze vendor lists for partner agencies, obtain and review vendor data from internal and external agencies, I e, BART, AC Transit, Oakland Housing Authority, and the building and planning department to identify and pursue unregistered businesses operating in Oakland, coordinate with city departments on collections, collaborate with other city of Oakland departments to ensure timely referral of outstanding receivables, such as illegal dumping invoices to the citywide collections division.

Current actions. Outreach outreach and education under the guidance of the annuitant, the revenue management bureau participated in three major community events. First Friday, September 2025, Oktoberfest twenty twenty five, Dia de los Muertes, November 2025. During these events, staff actively engaged with attendees to provide education on Oakland's business tax requirements and available payment plan options for most city receivables. These payment plans are administered and monitored by the citywide collections division.

The revenue management bureau has initiated outreach outreach efforts with several key business organization, including the Unity Council, Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Black Chamber of Commerce, and Chinatown Business Chamber. These conversations have focused on opportunities to participate in member meetings and to disseminate important messaging to the broader business community. As part of this collaboration, the bureau is providing content for inclusion and partner news newsletters and in actively presenting at membership meetings to raise awareness about business tax obligation and available resources. Additionally, the bureau was invited to speak at the African American Chamber of Commerce monthly small business forum held on 10/24/2025, this further strengthened our engagement. Outstanding business tax collections.

Between 09/10/2025 and 11/14/2025, approximately 7,025 delinquency notices were mailed to business owners with outstanding obligations covering both property based and nonproperty based accounts. In addition to the mailings, commercial nonproperty accounts located within Oakland were subject to follow-up telephone outreach and field visits. These efforts aim to assess business continuity and where appropriate, initiate referrals to the citywide collections division for potential court action on all resolved unresolved balances. Contractor subcontractor compliance initiative. This was initiated by the annuitant.

A meeting was initiated in September 2025 with the Department of Building and Planning to obtain the names and addresses contractors who have pulled building permits over the past six years. The goal of this initiative is to identify subcontractors associated associated with these projects and cross reference their information against the city's business tax registration database. Subcontractors found to be unregistered will be formally notified of their obligation to register and comply with Oakland's business tax requirement. This project is ongoing. Where we are at, last year, we had 1,125 visitors in our office between the, the month of July 1 to October 31.

This year, we have served 1,000 and 1,552 citizens in our offices. So that is a 30% uptick in, people that we have served during the same time period. I am here if there's any other questions.

Thank you. Colleagues? Councilmember Brown.

Okay. Excellent. Thank you so much for the report. Couple questions. I believe I guess first to the chair of this committee with bringing this special revenue collection informational report is it your expectation for this to be something that is reported on quarterly or what was your thoughts?

Yeah. Thank you for that. I think my this was a very helpful update, and I know the most important part of your work right now is being out and collecting this this money and going after the business again this September through through November period is showcasing a lot of results. I would be very interested in keeping this item in committee so that we can receive another report early next year to for any updates, potentially a little after the March 1 deadline so we get a sense of, you know, some of the progress that's received potentially April if if the if the department amenable to that so we can hear more updates on the success of the project potentially through a written report.

Excellent. I definitely agree detail and the work that you all put in. Definitely hearing about the outreach being out in community as that is important and really trying to ensure that stakeholders you know are engaged and so definitely appreciate that collaboration. I think that one thing that I would be interested in when this item comes back again would be a written report so that we can read and review just some of the activities especially around some of the areas of opportunity that we've had in revenue collection whether it has to do with some of the illegal dumping fines so that we can track and record that data. I know that both the office of the mayor and some of my colleagues are very interested in how that collection is going along with a handful of other you know special revenue projects and so being able to see that in a written report and that data, I think that would be super helpful as we are trying to just really make improvements across the city of Oakland.

But once again, thank you so much.

Councilor Malonek. Thank you.

Through the chair and thanks for agendizing this item. Just a few questions. So what ultimately is in your opinion the biggest barrier to doing the revenue collections at this point? The biggest barrier. For example, we know that with the legal dumping fines I think that only 11% of those are collected at least based off of historic data. So what do we need to do as a council to move to increase that number and move the needle?

Well, right now we are engaging in an internal education of other city departments on what we require for a referral over to our citywide collections department. There are, key items with we will call a valid collection referral, such as pictures, identifying the individual who did this, the location, the actual signage, and and where it is actually happening for the illegal dumping. But the thing is is that each collection referral requires a different thing. If you're doing or you're engaging in Parks and Rec and you have a contract, we actually need that contract and it needs to be signed and executed. As far as what council can do, I think that as supporting as you are have been have been what you've been doing in this space has been very successful.

What I think that is that as a administration, as a city, we need to tighten things up. And that way we can actually move forward on these different items and ensure that they're act we are actually able to collect on it and actually take it to court and win the judgment.

Okay. That's helpful. And then the other thing I would just note, what I am finding especially diving into the trafficking issue in my district is that there's a number of businesses per a lot. A shocking number of businesses I will say on international that are like convenience stores that are selling, it's like a red light district in essence, but also we have found that a number of the businesses, these are nuisance businesses don't have any business license under them. And so this work is not just about revenue collection, it's also about helping really to put out the nuisance businesses that are creating a lot of problems.

We hear stories of drug trafficking and all kinds of terrible things. So this is all that to say that this is important work.

So thank you.

Thank

you. We are and we do have a field component where we are actually canvassing. We're changing we used to call it field visits, but we are canvassing these different business locations where we're actually finding unregistered businesses, issuing out notice of violations. And then after it's no payment, then we will be referring them over to our collections department, and that is how we are able to assist with that. So we in our last field visit, which happened last month, we were able to find 20 unregistered businesses throughout the city.

This will, it is a labor intensive process. However, we are being pulled in different multiple areas where we have a delinquency that we need to run on property and non property accounts. My supervisors are pushing their people out. We just were able to attain vehicles under with the help with the city administrator so that we can actually get out and start canvassing these areas, but that is and you will be receiving notification from my people when we're in your area. So we are coming into your areas.

They will let notify you, but we also are opening this up so that we actually have an education with all of your people on exactly what revenue does and what our aims are and see where we are in alignment. And, absolutely, we will be visiting in you're saying International Boulevard? We'll be on International Boulevard.

Okay. Great. We'd love to give you some intel that we're hearing from the consumers.

We love tips.

Okay. Okay.

Good. Great. Noted.

Any other comments, questions? Okay. Thank you for this report. I think that's great work to show, you know, 30% increase in folks voluntarily coming to city hall to understand how to get more information on pay registering their business, paying their taxes, all of that's really great. Appreciate the efforts.

I know in the past, the city has certainly not sent notices on on time and not always followed up with the phone and field visits, so this is really great to know that there's multiple points of contacts for delinquent businesses because a lot of the time businesses that don't pay just don't really know or forgot or never received the mail and so I think all of these points of contacts are really helpful in getting our revenues up from this from these unpaid this category of unpaid business taxes. I think last year early last year potentially, I'm in several reports that were then presented to council, it was estimated that it was about 15% of businesses that didn't pay. Does that seem approximately accurate of the number of the percentage of delinquent businesses currently?

I don't feel comfortable giving you a percentage right now. I would absolutely like to go back and we will be able to present with you how many businesses are actually delinquent. So I will bring that back to you and get you that information.

Great. Wonderful. And as far as this coming in the form of a written report next year after more progress is made, there's either a committee meeting on, March 24 or a committee meeting on April 21. Is there a preference to bring this back?

I think April 21 would be a better target for us.

Okay. Thank you. And if you do have the numbers or percentage of delinquent businesses ahead of time, if you're able to present that in an email to the committee, that would also be appreciated.

We'll do. We'll get that to you.

Okay. And public comment?

Thank you. When I call your name, please approach the podium, state your name for the record, and you do have two minutes as we will take in person speakers before online speakers. If you are participating via Zoom, please raise your hand so you're easily identified. David Boatwright, Kevin Dolly, and Derek Barnes.

Hi. This is Kevin Daly in District 4. Wondering whether there's collections on fire code inspections that whether those have improved from where they were a year ago. The CVS in the Diamond District, which is District 4, has had a long running problem with its fire exit being closed. Every once in a while, gets inspected, fails inspection, and then they don't get around to collecting the fees.

So best case, we actually get the fire code violations fixed. Second best, we continue doing inspections and preferably collect fees while we're doing the inspections. And I know this has been a long running problem, both not following up and not collecting fees when the inspections are done. Thanks.

David Boatwright, District four. This is a great plan. Great to hear that you all are really on top of following up with the businesses and checking to make sure, making them clear that they have an obligation to pay these taxes. The foot traffic through your office is another good sign, people are paying attention. The big question is how much money have we actually made so far this year, this fiscal year? I didn't hear that number come up in the presentation. Maybe there isn't any money because it's so early, but that would be an important number to quote in future reports. Thank you.

Moving to our Zoom speaker, Derek, you may unmute yourself and begin your two minute comment.

Yes. Thanks, Madam Clerk, good morning, committee members. Director Cole, well done. I mean, I think this is all heading in the right direction. I remember a few months ago when you were kinda giving updates in terms of what your prior priorities would be in support of businesses and being more proactive.

And I'm really happy I think a lot of us are really happy to see the city moving in this direction, becoming more proactive when it comes to engagement and outreach, education, and certainly, around enforcement. But those first two pieces are essential, in helping us move the needle in terms of supporting our businesses, and the commerce that they provide and making sure that they understand their responsibilities, to the city. So I'm I'm very pleased to hear that, your plans are in action and helping us move, the needle in that regard. As I think some of you have already heard, you say as it relates to housing and owners, providing rental housing, through the program that we have with the city, we we certainly see this all the time where, as the as chair Ramachandran said that a lot of people just do not know what, their responsibilities are, as it relates to, running businesses, especially, rental housing businesses. And so, I think, we and other organizations are are in good position to help with your outreach and your education activities, and we're here to be a good partner with the with the city in that regard.

So keep up the good work, and thank you. And we're here to help. In the matters of data. I think, you know, paying attention to that and making sure that we have good data comparison so that we understand what in your plan works and maybe not is working for continuous improvement. And, yeah, and making sure that our data repositories are up to date and correct so we can do all that good work as well. That

concludes your public speakers for item four.

Thank you. Council member Brown, could you clarify what information you want brought in the follow-up report, or was it just to have a written report?

Yes. Definitely to have a written report and if it's okay perhaps I can email some of the specifics for the next time if that's alright. Yep. So we won't include it in the in the motion and I'll I'm happy to move the item.

Okay. Great. To the April 21 finance committee meeting?

Sounds good. Thank you.

I will second that and just add a clarifying question. Since April is close to the time we start looking at our budget more in more detail, would you be able to by that point have some projections on how much revenue this project has amassed?

I'm gonna look at my people one moment and let me see what they can do.

Yes.

Okay. Great. And just a sincere acknowledgment, think there's massive progress that's been made on this issue over the last year and much appreciate or much appreciation to you revenue administrator Welch and director Johnson on being able to move this forward. And I think this is a a very much a right step in the right direction for the city. And I will second. Thank you. We have

a motion made by council member Brown, seconded by Ramachandra, and this is to continue this item to the 04/21/2026 finance and management committee meeting on the roll. Council member Brown? Aye. Council member Unger? Aye. Council member Wong? Aye. And chair Ramachandran? Aye. The motion passes with four ayes to continue this item to the 04/21/2026 finance and management committee meeting. Moving to item five, receive an informational cash management report for fiscal year twenty five-twenty six, first quarter ended 09/30/2025, and you do have three speakers for this item.

Good morning, chair Ramachandran and committee members. My name is David Jones of the Treasury Bureau. Before you this morning is an informational management cash management report, excuse me, for the first quarter of the fiscal year ending twenty fivetwenty six as of September 30. Highlights on page one of the report shows that the portfolio had a balance of approximately $2,090,000,000 It was down slightly from June due to some disbursements. Days to maturity of the portfolio, two forty two days.

Portfolio had a yield of 3.98%, slightly down from June, and the portfolio had a daily liquidity of 20.97% and approximately 70% maturing within the next hundred and eighty days. And the portfolio is in full compliance with the city's investment policy and we still invest for safety, liquidity, and yield. And I'm available for any questions that you may have.

Thank you colleagues councilmember Unger.

Is there any kind of seasonality to our cash management? Do we tend to be higher at one time of the year?

It it does. It does fluctuate. One of the big like, in October, we have a large debt service payment for the port, so you'll see a drop. But, yes, it does, you know, it it has ebbs and flows.

So are are we in line with so are we better off comparing ourselves with previous seasons as opposed

to We're basically flat. So we're doing we're doing fine. Okay. We've got plenty of liquid cash, and we manage it on a daily basis. Great. Thank you.

Public speakers. Yes.

When I call your name, please approach the podium, state your name for the record, and, we will take in person speakers before Zoom. Participating via Zoom, please raise your hands so you're easily identified. David Boatwright, Kevin Dolly, and Derek Barnes.

David Boatwright, District 4. Council member Unger just asked the question I was gonna ask and that is, is this unusual to get such a big drop in the cash? And the answer was it's normal. There's seasonal changes. So I guess we shouldn't worry about that. Thank you.

Kevin And Dolly and Derek Barnes, do you still wish to speak? That concludes your public speakers' right on file.

Colleagues, I will entertain a motion to receive and file.

I will make that motion to receive and file.

Second.

We have a motion made by council member Unger, seconded by council member Brown to receive and file this item in the finance and management committee. On the roll, council member Brown? Aye. Council member Unger? Aye. Council member Wong? Aye. And chair Ramachandran? Aye. This motion passes with four ayes to receive and file this in the finance management committee. Moving to open forum. You do have two speakers for open forum. When I call your name, please approach the podium. State your name for the record. David Kevin Dolly and David Boatwright.

David Bowwright, District 4. I don't have anything really substantial to say other than it's really helpful if people will speak into their microphones. I've noticed there were four or five people this morning and some turn away from it like maybe I did a little while ago when I was talking and that will really help the people in the public understand what's going on. Thank you.

That concludes your public speakers for open forum.

All right. Thanks everyone. Meeting's adjourned.