November 4, 2025
Voters reject Prop Q
63.47% vote against a 57.40¢ rate. Council amends the budget down to the 52.40¢ voter-approval rate.
What Council did
On August 12, Council adopted a $6.6 billion FY 2026–27 budget, about $300 million more than last year’s amended budget, and a $0.579948 City property-tax rate. The budget passed 9–2. The separate tax-rate vote passed 8–2, with one member off the dais. The rate is the maximum the City can adopt without an election, and it is above the $0.574017 that voters rejected in Proposition Q.
$0.579948
Adopted City rate per $100. Above the 57.40¢ voters rejected.
9 of 11
Council members who voted for the budget. 8 voted for the rate.
$5.23M
Efficiency-study contract Council approved the same day it advanced the maximum tax rate.
Our position: vote YES on Prop I on November 3. Prop I puts an independent efficiency audit into the city charter and requires one before Council can call another tax-rate election. Council can’t repeal it without going back to voters, and if City Hall wants more money it should have to show its work first. Read the case and the ballot language.
Three records kept separately
Who voted for the increase
Member-by-member, with the exact item and the source document.
The budget they passed anyway
Proposal, hearings, adoption, and what it costs the typical homeowner.
The No Thank Q result
The certified Proposition Q vote and the budget Council amended after losing.
How it went
July 16, 2026
Manager proposes the new maximum
$6.6 billion, with a $0.57953 City rate. The new voter-approval rate came out above the number voters had just rejected, so no election is needed to take it.
July 30
Council advances the max rate and an audit on the same day
Council approves the maximum proposed rate for notice, approves a $5.23 million efficiency-study contract, and sends a charter amendment (now Prop I) to the November ballot requiring an audit before future tax-rate elections. Council set the rate that day; the audit is for whatever comes next.
August 12
Budget and tax rate adopted
Separate votes: 9–2 on the budget, 8–2 on the rate. The City’s own typical-homeowner example goes up $113.76 in property tax plus $172.08 in rates and fees.
Vote-detail rule: action notes establish that an item passed, but we don’t assign individual votes until the official minutes or vote record supports them. Every number on this site links to the City document it came from.