Mountain View
Strengthening the Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance
The City of Mountain View is moving to make life easier for those displaced by the rapidly rising rental market. The Council will take up amendments to the current ordinance, which requires landlords to provide relocation assistance to households that earn less than 50% of the area median income (AMI) when four or more rental units are removed.
In the proposal, the base assistance jump from two-times to three-times the monthly median rent for displaced tenant and increasing the AMI to 80% of the maximum household income for assistance eligibility. Rounding out the proposal are small but substantive changes, like linking increases to the recommended special-circumstances assistance to inflation and language that would guarantee a tenant access money no later than the date to vacate.
Mountain View is doing the right thing in strengthening their tenant relocation services. Relocation services are one of the limited options that tenants have at their disposal when trying to survive the boom in the rental housing market. The need to increase the eligibility and strength of those services reinforces the need for affordable housing.
Where: City of Mountain View
When: Tuesday, March 25
Agenda: link
City of Palo Alto
Potential Utility Users Tax
The City of Palo Alto is gearing up to modernize the Utility Users Tax (UUT) on the November Ballot. The UUT represents $11.0 million of the City’s 2014 (FY) general fund, which is roughly 7% of all general fund revenue.
The modernization of the UUT would include removing exemptions that limit the city to collecting only on local calls, extending the telephone user tax to interstate and international calls and updating the definition of telecommunications to include all forms of electronic communication that currently exist. One change likely to draw opposition from the teleco companies is the bundling provision, which states that if all the services are bundled together in a way where the taxable and non-taxable charges cannot be easily differentiated, the tax applies to all of the charges.
The City of Palo Alto is moving along with updates to stabilize its tax base and provide the services and infrastructure to the City. Unfortunately, it’s unclear whether the voters are on board. The changes to the UUT are complicated and while technically revenue neutral, the proponents will have to make the concept simple enough to stick with voters in the fall.
Where: Palo Alto City Council
When: Monday, March 24
Agenda: Link
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