City of Santa Clara held a Priority Session meeting on February 8th which included a report by their consultant Lew Edwards and team. This is the same consultant who has been hired by the City of Palo Alto. The City conducted a survey of 600 likely voters from January 20-27, 2022.  The survey results were:

  • A no tax increase Utilities Charter affirmation measure is viable in November 2022
  • Consistent with previous surveys, an infrastructure bond falls far short of the viability
  • A business license tax moderation is potentially viable, provided there is stakeholder consensus and public education on the City’s proposal.

They conducted an outreach with the business community.  While only 7 business owners or representatives attended the meeting, they overwhelmingly were against the square footage tax, understood the need for a tax increase and were supportive of layered head count tax.

A meeting was supposed to be held on March 1st, but it was cancelled.  Edesa will track this and will continue to report back to the Public Policy Committee, the Board and the membership.