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CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
City of Anaheim
OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
DATE: OCTOBER 28, 2025
FROM: OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
SUBJECT: CONSIDERATION OF THE PLACEMENT OF A TOURISIM TAX
MEASURE AND A PARKING TAX MEASURE ON THE BALLOT
FOR THE NOVEMBER 3, 2026 GENERAL MUNICPAL
ELECTION
ATTACHMENT (Y/N): YES ITEM # 27
GOVERNMENT CODE § 84308 APPLIES: NO
REQUESTED ACTION:
That the City Council, by separate resolutions:
1. Consider ordering the submission of a general tax measure establishing a three percent (3%) tourism tax on patrons of theme parks and entertainment and sporting events at privately owned or operated facilities with a capacity of over 20,000 people to the qualified voters of the City at the General Municipal Election to be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, and
determine that the
general tax measure relates to organizational or administrative activities of government that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment, and therefore is not a project within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") and the State CEQA Guidelines, Section 15378(b); and
2. Consider ordering the submission of a general tax measure establishing a ten percent (10%) parking tax applicable to privately owned or operated parking structures and facilities with a capacity to park 1,500 vehicles or more to the qualified voters of the City at the General Municipal Election to be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, and determine that the general tax measure relates to organizational or administrative activities of government that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment, and therefore is not a project within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") and the State CEQA Guidelines, Section 15378(b).
DISCUSSION:
At the September 23, 2025, City Council meeting, Council Member Natalie Rubalcava requested that staff prepare a ballot measure(s) enacting a tourism tax applicable to large theme parks and entertainment and sporting venues, and to large parking facilities wherever located within Anaheim. Currently, ticket sales and parking for events at Proposed Ballot Measures Enacting Tourism and Parking Tax Ordinances October 28, 2025
Angel Stadium, Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, would be covered by the proposed tax. The attached tax ordinances separate the two taxes into separate tourism and parking tax ordinances.
Tourism (Admission) Tax
Attachment 1 hereto consists of a proposed ordinance imposing a 3% tourism tax on the price of admission at large, privately owned or operated theme parks and entertainment/sporting venues and a resolution ordering the submission of that measure to the voters at the November 2026 General Municipal Election. Should Council approve this item, the proposed ballot question that will be presented to the voters is:
ANAHEIM TOURISM TAX. Shall the City of Anaheim impose a tax equal to 3% of the admission (ticket) price on patrons of privately owned or operated large (capacity exceeding 20,000 people) theme parks and sports and entertainment events/venues, generating $89 million to $134 million annually to be used for general City services such as parks, street maintenance, police, fire and emergency response, youth/senior services and affordable housing, until ended by the voters?
Private Parking Tax
Attachment 2 hereto consists of a proposed ordinance imposing a 10% tax on parking at privately owned or operated large parking facilities with 1,500 or more parking spaces, and a resolution ordering the submission of that measure to the voters at the November 2026 General Municipal Election. While staff is not aware of past instances in which the Council has considered a tax or fee on paid parking, other cities do have parking taxes, including Burbank, Los Angeles, Malibu, Millbrae, Oakland, San Francisco, and Santa Monica. Taxes at those cities range from 10% to 25% of the fees charged for parking and apply to all parking facilities, sometimes with carve-outs or exceptions. Many of these taxes were imposed prior to the enactment of Proposition 218 and so were adopted via ordinance, although some have been more recently increased with voter approval.
As reflected in Attachment 2 hereto, if Council elects to place the parking measure on the ballot, the question before the voters will be:
ANAHEIM PARKING TAX. Shall the City of Anaheim establish a parking tax equal to 10% of the parking fee/charge on patrons who park at privately owned or operated large (capacity exceeding 1,500 vehicles) parking facilities events, generating $19 million to $30 million annually to be used for general City services such as parks, street maintenance, police, fire and emergency response, youth/senior services, affordable housing and other quality of life services, until ended by the voters?
As proposed, both the tourism tax and parking tax would be paid respectively by the ticket purchaser or person parking the vehicle. The business operating the venue or parking facility would be responsible for collecting the tax and remitting it to the City.
Proposed Ballot Measures Enacting Tourism and Parking Tax Ordinances October 28, 2025
Existing Contract Provisions
As noted above, the tourism (admission) tax will apply to people purchasing tickets to attend events at the three large sporting/entertainment venues in the City with capacity over 20,000 – those venues being Angel Stadium, Disneyland and California Adventure.
People paying for parking at the structures associated with those venues and at other privately owned or operated lots throughout the City with a capacity to hold more than 1,500 vehicles would be subject to the parking tax. Exempted from paying the parking tax would be anyone paying transit occupancy tax for the parking provided along with their hotel. Below are the contractual provisions that potentially affect the imposition of these taxes. In addition, the Olympic Organizing Committee requires a contract term prohibiting the imposition of any admissions or parking tax on Olympic events and this exception has been written into the proposed tax ordinances.
The City’s Lease Agreement with the Angels
The City’s current lease agreement with the Angels states that if the City “imposes, levies or assesses any ticket, admission, parking or other tax or fee based upon revenues derived from operations at the Baseball Stadium or Parking Area, or Team revenues, [the Angels] shall receive a credit against its lease payment obligations to [the City] as they become due equal to the amount of such tax or fee…” Under this clause of the lease, the City would likely have to reimburse the Angels for revenues collected for events at Angels Stadium unless the Angels agree that the proposed taxes do not invoke the reimbursement provision, or the Angels agree to modify the lease, or a Court rules that the reimbursement obligation does not apply to the tourism and parking tax. Because of this uncertainty, the Angels Stadium portion of the proposed taxes is not included in the estimated revenues from the tax.
The Development Agreements with Disneyland Forward and OCV!BE The City’s Development Agreements for the Disneyland Forward and OCV!BE projects state, in relevant part, that: “Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Development Agreement shall not limit City's right and power to impose taxes on the Property or Project provided that any taxes imposed are adopted pursuant to all applicable laws and that said tax qualifies as a City-Wide Tax. For the purposes of this [Section 6.30 or Section 14.8] a "City-Wide Tax" means a general or special tax generally applicable to a category of development or use of one or more kinds, wherever the same may be located in the City, including but not limited to, a general or special tax adopted in accordance with California Const, Art XIII C and D et seq. (otherwise known as Proposition 218); provided, however, that a general or special tax which only applies to or impacts the Project shall not be considered a City-Wide Tax.”
These development agreements essentially provide that any tax imposed on the Disneyland Forward Project or the OCV!BE Project1 must be a City-wide tax applicable to the same category(ies) of development or use. This restriction is not further defined in the Development Agreements so it is subject to some level of interpretation. Both proposed taxes are imposed on a city-wide basis to a category of development or use of a 1 Currently, none of the OCV!be facilities will be subject to the proposed taxes, either because they do not meet the capacity threshold (20,000 for the tourism tax) or because they are not charging a fee (parking will not be paid at the OCV!be facilities).
Proposed Ballot Measures Enacting Tourism and Parking Tax Ordinances October 28, 2025
particular kind (i.e. a tax on admission tickets for a privately operated or managed sports and entertainment venues with more than 20,000 attendees or a parking tax for privately owned or operated parking facilities with over 1,500 spaces) and specifically on the ticket purchaser or the person paying for parking and are not imposed on the business operators. The business operators will have a duty to collect and remit the taxes to the City but are not actually paying the taxes themselves. Thus, the taxes are not imposed on either the project or the property that is covered in the respective development agreements.
The Olympic Games Tax Restriction
On the agenda today is a proposed agreement with the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2028 (“OCOG”) to host 2028 Olympic Games events at the Honda Center. This agreement precludes the City from imposing any future parking or admissions taxes associated with Olympic events (the OCOG’s non-negotiable position is that all host cities must agree to the tax limitation).
The draft agreement with OCOG requires the City to agree “(i) to not subject the 2028 Games events to any current and/or future admissions taxes, parking taxes or related taxes and (ii) that such waiver shall not burden the applicable venue owners/operators and teams.” The attached draft ordinances contain an exception for Olympic events to reflect the contractual limitation.
Economic Impacts
In conjunction with the request for tax measures, Council Member Rubalcava asked staff to provide information about the future payoff of the City’s Lease Payment Measurement Revenue (LPMR) bonds and prospective capital projects within the City, many of which are identified in the City’s recently adopted Strategic Plan. LPMR is expected to be paid off in Spring 2027 freeing up $120 million in the General Fund.
After covering the projected General Fund deficit, a surplus of $65 million is projected in FY 2027/28. A staff presentation will be provided with additional detail, but following is a sample of some potential uses of said surplus based on strategic planning priorities:
Project Estimated Cost Annual Debt
Service
New Senior Center/Community Center $10-25M $1.0-2.5M
Public Pool/Aquatic Center $20-25M $2.0-2.5M
Corridor Beautification $10M annually
Achieve Paving Index Conditions Index of
75+/-
$30M annually
Deferred Maintenance $50M
Police Headquarters $350M $35.0M
10 Police Officers $3.2M ongoing
$0.8M one-time
Fire Station 13 $20M $2.0M
Station 13 Fire/Ambulance Company $3.8M ongoing
$1.5M one-time
Proposed Ballot Measures Enacting Tourism and Parking Tax Ordinances October 28, 2025
The proceeds of the tourism and parking taxes would go to the general fund and be used to provide funding for general City services, such as parks, street maintenance, police, fire and emergency response, youth/senior services, affordable housing and other quality of life services. The revenues from the taxes are estimated to be approximately $89 to $134 million for the tourism tax and $19 to $30 million for the parking tax (not including any tax revenues from Olympic game ticket or parking sales for the reasons stated above).
Per state law, the City Council can request/authorize an economic impact study to be conducted prior to any Council action placing one or both measures on a future ballot. A fiscal impact analysis is often conducted by an outside consultant and is utilized to inform the City Council and the voters of a proposed measure's fiscal impact.
IMPACT ON BUDGET:
Submission of two separate ordinances/tax measures to the voters at the General Municipal Election to be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2026 will cost approximately $17,000 to $34,000. If the tourism tax measure passes, it is anticipated that it will generate approximately $89 to $134 million in annual tax revenues. If the parking tax measure passes, it is anticipated that it will generate approximately $19 to $30 million in annual tax revenues.
Respectfully submitted, Concurred by,
Robert Fabela Jim Vanderpool
City Attorney City Manager
Attachments:
1. Resolution ordering the submission of a Tourism Tax Measure on the Ballot and attached Proposed Ordinance Adding Section 2.15 to the Anaheim Municipal Code
2. Resolution ordering the submission of a Parking Tax Measure on the Ballot and attached Proposed Ordinance Adding Section 2.16 to the Anaheim Municipal Code