Council Advances $14.4M Business Tax Overhaul Toward November Ballot

Hayward's City Council took its biggest step yet toward closing a structural budget deficit, directing staff to bring back final ordinance language for a November ballot measure that would modernize a business license tax frozen since 1978. The council also endorsed a new equity-focused plan for spending tree mitigation fees and unanimously adopted a salary plan amendment funded entirely outside the general fund.

• $14.4M business license tax ballot measure moves forward after polling shows 68% voter support; final ordinance due back in May

• Labor pushes for higher rates while landlord group warns of tenfold tax jump on small rental owners

• $250,000 annual tree fee spending plan endorsed, targeting canopy gaps in western Hayward, citizen grants, and fire-zone defensible space

• Library faces loss of $130,000 in state ESL funding serving 300 residents as Sacramento signals cuts

• La Vista Park breaks ground — 39-acre hillside recreation area in South Hayward on track for fall 2027

The centerpiece of Tuesday's meeting was a nearly 75-minute work session on whether — and how — to ask voters to update a business license tax that hasn't changed since the Carter administration.