From: Trish Spencer
To: Lara Weisiger
Subject: Fwd: [SUSPICIOUS MESSAGE] Comments on Consent Calendar Item 5-D (File 2024-4158), July 2, 2024 Date: Tuesday, July 2, 2024 2:32:28 PM
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jennifer Tell <[email protected]>
Date: Jul 2, 2024 2:10 PM
Subject: [SUSPICIOUS MESSAGE] Comments on Consent Calendar Item 5-D (File 2024- 4158), July 2, 2024
To: Malia Vella <[email protected]>,Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft <[email protected]>,Tony Daysog <[email protected]>,Tracy Jensen <[email protected]>,Trish Spencer <[email protected]> Cc:
ALERT: This message originated from outside of the City of Alameda email system and was sent to "Trish Spencer" and the sender name was "[email protected]
" but the sender’s email address was
[email protected]. This could be an impersonation attack. Please contact the Service Desk with any questions.
Hello Mayor and Councilmembers,
I am writing to express my concerns about Item 5-D on the July 2, 2024 Consent Calendar (File 2024-4158) to Execute an Agreement for Full Business License Tax Administration, Including Business Discovery, Collections, and Audit with Hinderliter De Llamas & Associates (HdL) for an Initial Three-Year Term with Two One-Year Extensions, for a Total Agreement Amount Not-to-Exceed $800,000.
The proposed agreement would increase the City's costs of business license tax administration services from $18,900 to up to $160,000 annually, a 747% increase. The staff report states that the newly adopted processing fee would cover the costs of the new service agreement, but what are the benefits to the City from these additional costs ? Would the agreement
increase revenues to the General Fund, or pass-through the additional fees levied on local businesses to HdL?
I am particularly concerned that there does not appear to have been a competitive process conducted for this agreement and that the staff report notes that Alameda is not receiving a competitive rate. Why is HdL's rate for business license discovery and audit services 40% of collections when the rate for peer cities is 35%? Percentage of collections should not be subject to CPI increases when compared to the rate for other agencies because percentages scale with the amount of collections.
I implore the City Council to ask these questions before committing our City's business community to these additional costs that have undefined benefits for anyone except HdL.
Thank you,
Jennifer Tell
Alameda Resident