Measure E<\/a>, championed by Mayor Barbara Lee, would impose new taxes on property owners to fund key city services like police, homeless shelters, and cleanups. The levy would be: $192 a year for single family homes, $131 per apartment for multi-unit dwellings, and steeper amounts for commercial properties. Some low-income and senior property owners would be exempt, along with schools and religious sites.<\/p>\n The goal is to raise roughly $34 million a year for nine years.<\/p>\n Depending on who\u2019s asked, Measure E is either crucial to Oakland\u2019s public safety and homelessness response, or a cash grab without accountability.<\/p>\n Unions and city leaders bet big on Measure E <\/p>\n Last spring, in the midst of a financial crisis, Oakland adopted a bare-bones two-year budget<\/a>. City finance officials warned that the spending plan would leave a $40 million hole in the second year of the budget \u2014 one that might need to be patched by a parcel tax.<\/p>\n Several of the city\u2019s labor unions took up the mantle, fundraising big to get the tax measure on the ballot for the June 2 primary<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n This month, however, Lee unveiled a mid-cycle budget<\/a> that is balanced \u2014 if austere \u2014 and does not rely on new tax revenue. She also released a Measure E spending plan, saying the revenue would allow important additions like 22 police officers and a police academy to train recruits, replacements for decrepit city vehicles like fire engines, new shelter beds, and the expansion of other services.<\/p>\n \u201cIf no Measure E, senior centers are open four days,\u201d Lee said at a rally Tuesday outside City Hall. \u201cIf Measure E passes, five days a week.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t tolerate just treading water, just barely making it.\u201d<\/p>\n She was joined at the rally by Council President Kevin Jenkins, former councilmember and current city staffer Rebecca Kaplan, members of the city\u2019s firefighter union, community organizers, and others.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they\u2019re older than me,\u201d said Jenkins about some of the Oakland Fire Department vehicles.<\/p>\n Oakland\u2019s municipal labor unions are among the biggest advocates for the measure. These city jobs \u2014\u00a0and the services they provide \u2014\u00a0could suffer in future budget cycles without a revenue infusion.<\/p>\n A campaign committee launched last year by labor interests, called Oaklanders for a Safe, Clean & Healthy City has raised, by our tally of its campaign finance filings, a whopping $1.12 million to support the measure. Initially, the committee was established to get a parcel tax on the ballot, and in March, after that happened, it was renamed to campaign for Measure E.<\/p>\n The committee has spent the money<\/a> on organizing, mailers, digital ads, consultants, and more, filings show.<\/p>\n The five largest contributors to this committee are:<\/p>\n Service Employees International Union Local 1021: $425,000<\/p>\n International Association of Fire Fighters Local 55: $265,000<\/p>\n International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 21: $120,500<\/p>\n Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Northern California: $50,000<\/p>\n California Nurses Association: $50,000<\/p>\n SEIU Local 1021, IAFF Local 55, and IFPTE Local 21 are among Oakland\u2019s largest public employee unions, representing city workers across numerous departments and positions, from street cleaners to museum guards to firefighters.<\/p>\n Real estate industry funding Measure E opposition<\/p>\n Meanwhile the real estate industry, other business interests, and some civic groups in Oakland are campaigning hard against the measure. The No on E committee, by our tally of its campaign filings, has so far raised more than $279,000.<\/p>\n Their message: How can voters trust the city to spend the revenue on what it\u2019s intended for? Beleaguered taxpayers, they argue, are tired of continuing to send money to the city without seeing results.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to see some transparency in these measures before we approve them,\u201d said Kiran Shenoy, government affairs director for the Berkeley-based Bridge Association of Realtors, which is leading the campaign. Realtors are sponsoring an anti-E committee called Neighbors for an Affordable Oakland.<\/p>\n Empower Oakland, a political advocacy group founded by Loren Taylor, has made a similar case against the measure. The group cites Measure NN<\/a>, which voters passed in 2024 to raise millions for public safety. That ballot measure promised to boost the city\u2019s ranks of police officers to 700. Yet, Oakland\u2019s budget deficits have forced leaders to scale back, with the last budget authorizing 678 police officer positions. And because it\u2019s become so difficult to recruit, hire, and retain officers, OPD\u2019s actual number of officers sits at 610.<\/p>\n \u201cMeasure NN didn\u2019t just fall short on hiring \u2014 the city declared a fiscal emergency and redirected the funds to whatever it wanted,\u201d Empower Oakland says on its No on E website<\/a>. \u201cNothing in Measure E prevents the same thing from happening again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Lee told The Oaklandside<\/a> this messaging is \u201cmisinformation.\u201d Revenue from past measures has not been spent on unintended uses, she said. Rather, the city hasn\u2019t always been able to afford to contribute enough general fund dollars to fully carry out the measures\u2019 goals.\u00a0<\/p>\n The city attorney\u2019s analysis of the measure, included in the county election booklet, says Oakland can only use Measure E revenue \u201cto pay costs and expenses related to the objectives designated in the measure.\u201d A public oversight commission would be established and the city auditor would regularly monitor the spending.<\/p>\n Asked why the real estate industry is heading up the opposition campaign, Shenoy said, \u201cRealtors generally have a broad interest in ensuring the city of Oakland thrives and remains safe, functional, and fiscally competent.\u201d Those circumstances \u201censure people want to move to Oakland,\u201d he said. When there\u2019s low \u201cconsumer confidence,\u201d the housing market \u201cdoesn\u2019t keep up.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the biggest contributors to that campaign are the companies that would have to pay the highest taxes under the measure. Developers that own large or multiple buildings in Oakland, like Carmel Partners, which developed the Atlas, the city\u2019s largest housing tower, could pay tens of thousands of dollars more each year under E, by The Oaklandside\u2019s calculations. These property owners have faced economic pressures in recent years, and a number of prominent downtown buildings have gone through foreclosures and fire sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n A group including Bishop Terrence Millican from the Oakland NAACP; Taylor, CEO of the Black Action Alliance and a former councilmember; Carl Chan, a Chinatown business advocate and co-lead of the 2024 campaign to recall Pamela Price; and others held a press conference on Thursday opposing Measure E.<\/p>\n The committee established to oppose Measure E has not raised close to the amount that the pro-E campaign has. Nevertheless, it\u2019s received significant contributions from real estate interests.<\/p>\n The five largest contributors to this committee are:<\/p>\n National Association of Realtors: $100,000<\/p>\n California Association of Realtors: $75,000<\/p>\n Carmel Partners (Greg Pasquali): $48,150<\/p>\n The Martin Group of Companies (Justin Osler): $15,000<\/p>\n Empower Oakland: $11,020<\/p>\n The first four contributors are from the real estate industry.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s by far the buzziest, Measure E is not the only city item on the ballot.<\/p>\n![\"Yes_on_E_May2026-15\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Yes_on_E_May2026-15.jpg\")
An SEIU 1021 member rallies for Measure E on May 19. The union, representing about 1,500 city workers, is the largest single financial contributor to the Yes on E campaign. Credit: Richard H. Grant for The Oaklandside<\/p>\n![\"Downtown](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Downtown-Glassy-Towers-2.jpg\")
The developer of the Atlas apartments on 14th Street is one of the largest contributors to the No on E committee. Credit: Amir Aziz\/The Oaklandside<\/p>\n