Extends and increases a parcel tax and a parking tax surcharge for an additional nine years to fund police, fire, and violence prevention services.
Measure NN would renew for nine years the soon-to-expire Measure Z, maintaining but increasing a special parcel tax and a special parking tax surcharge that annually fund public safety and violence prevention initiatives. The City of Oakland would use the measure’s revenue to pay for direct expenditures and administrative costs related to
Measure NN would increase the city’s minimum number of sworn police officers from 678 to 700. In addition, it would replace an existing nine-member commission with a new five-member commission with similar oversight and eligibility requirements. Under the new measure, however, the commission would be required to develop two four-year community violence reduction plans subject to review and approval by the Oakland City Council.
The amount of the parcel tax would depend on the type of parcel, as is currently the case, but that amount would increase for each type under Measure NN.
| Type of Parcel | Under 2014 Measure Z | Under 2024 Measure NN |
| Single-family residential parcels | $128 per property annually | $198 per property annually |
| Multiple residential-unit parcels | $91 per unit annually | $132 per unit annually |
| Non-residential parcels | $68 times the equivalent number of single-family units annually (based on the property’s square footage and frontage) | $198 times the equivalent number of single-family units annually (based on the property’s square footage and frontage) |
Low-income and senior homeowners would be exempt from the tax, as is the case now. The tax rate for affordable housing projects would be reduced, and rebates would be provided to tenants in certain situations. The Oakland City Council would be allowed to annually adjust the parcel tax based on the consumer price index, a change from Measure Z.
The parking tax surcharge would increase to 10% from 8.5% under Measure Z.
In 2014, Oakland voters approved Measure Z, the Oakland Public Safety and Services Violence Prevention Act, which maintained the special parcel and parking taxes Oakland voters approved in 2004 under Measure Y to fund police, fire, and violence prevention services. Measure Z has provided more than $30 million annually in revenue for the City of Oakland for these services. If Measure Z were to expire on December 31, 2024, without a replacement measure, the city would lose this revenue.
The City Administrator estimates that Measure NN would generate approximately $47.4 million dollars annually. If the measure generates the estimated amount, the breakdown would be as follows:
Measure NN would provide stricter accountability by funding a new budget auditor to conduct regular independent audits of how the funds are being spent, and it would create a cross-departmental community violence reduction plan for two four-year increments.
Measure NN would require that 75% of the funds raised for violence prevention be used to fund the community-based organizations that implement various public health-based strategies designed to interrupt the cycle of violence for Oakland’s most at-risk populations.
The measure is backed by a broad-based coalition that includes small and large businesses, the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, labor unions, social impact nonprofits, youth leadership organizations, crime prevention councils, and the Oakland Firefighters. The group secured signatures from 10% of the number of total registered voters in Oakland to place Measure NN on the ballot. The measure needs a simple majority (50% plus one vote) to pass.
Gun and gender-based violence are most prevalent in Oakland’s Black and Latinx communities. Data from the Oakland Police Department indicate that, in 2022, at least 80% of gender-based violence victims and 90% of shooting and homicide victims were non-white. High rates of violence have consistently been concentrated in neighborhoods within East, Central East, and West Oakland. Tax revenue would fund critical public safety and violence prevention services in these neighborhoods.
The parcel tax includes exemptions for low-income and senior homeowners so that the tax’s financial impact would not disproportionately burden these homeowners.
Measure Z has provided more than $30 million in annual revenue for the City of Oakland for police, fire, and violence prevention services. Expiration of this measure would represent a significant loss of funding for community organizations working to break the cycle of violence in at-risk Black and Latinx neighborhoods. Continuation of this funding is particularly critical given that the city projects continued budget deficits that will limit its ability to expand funding for police, fire, and violence prevention services out of the General Fund. Although the special parcel tax is a regressive tax, it exempts low-income and senior homeowners to minimize negative impacts.