COUNCIL BUDGET & FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETING
Meeting Minutes of January 15, 2025
Call to Order: 5:30 p.m.
Members Present: Mayor Salinas, Councilmember Syrop, and Councilmember Bonilla Jr.
Members Absent: None
Staff: Dr. Ana M. Alvarez, Regina Youngblood, Nicole Gonzales, Christina Crosby, Franchesca Hatfield, Crissy Mello, Nicholas Mullins Guests: None
Public Comments: None
Approval of Meeting Minutes from November 20, 2024
Action: Minutes reviewed and unanimously approved.
Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) Review
Director Gonzales presented
Councilmember Syrop Questions:
Do we have a carve out amount of TOT for Emergency Shelter services? Do we know if this will affect that relationship? I don’t believe so. It’s a different program. I don’t see why we’d need to pass that on to social programs, but we’d have to look at every hotel to see what they are charging for the program.
Councilmember Bonilla Jr. Questions:
When was it last increased? What year did it go to 8.5%? I don’t have that information off-hand, but it has been set at 8.5%.
Have we engaged hotels?
We haven’t, but a lot of the conversation occurred when we took it to the Hayward voters for approval. There were a lot of committee meetings and a lot of public meetings on potential impacts to the hoteliers.
Have Hayward hotels demonstrated a post-pandemic rebound to consider increasing TOT? Hayward has historically seen about $2 to 2.5 million in TOT revenue annually pre-COVID. When you take into consideration the last 5 years, we’ve continued to see an increase. We’re starting to see that ramp up to pre-COVID.
Should we jump straight to 14% or are you comfortable phasing up to 14%? I would be comfortable. I think the City has justification knowing where our neighboring jurisdictions are. I think the City has been very thoughtful on the impacts to the business community and you can see there has been a significant amount of revenue lost over the last 5 years.
When could this go to City Council?
We can take it as early as February and Council can have an effective date that is included in the resolution.
Action: The Committee received the presentation and provided feedback.
FY 2025-26 Budget Process and Calendar Review (Oral Report) Director Gonzales presented
Councilmember Syrop Questions:
Can the vacancy report include how long a vacancy existed? It may be difficult to create due to the requisition system, but it isn’t impossible.
Action: The Committee received the report.
Review and Approve the FY 2024-25 Agenda Planning Calendar Director Gonzales presented
Is the Real Estate update going to include the theatre purchase? Yes.
Can we discuss the Hayward Community Foundation?
We can pencil it in and if we get closer to that date and if people aren’t interested after budget we can move it to a different date.
Action: The Committee reviewed the calendar and provided feedback.
Committee Members/Staff Announcements: None.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 6:24 p.m.
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