Berkeley is asking voters to raise the city's sales tax to help close a structural budget deficit that city officials put at close to $30 million. Measure V, on the Nov. 3 ballot, is the main piece of that plan. Here is what it does.

What a yes vote does

Measure V adds half a cent to every taxable dollar spent in Berkeley, lifting the city's rate from 10.25% to 10.75%. The City Attorney's impartial analysis calls it a general tax. The money goes into the general fund and can pay for any legitimate city purpose. The city estimates it will bring in $9 million to $10 million a year. Collection would start April 1, 2027, and the tax has no sunset. It stays in place until voters end it. It needs a simple majority to pass and would be covered by the city's regular independent audits.

The ballot question lists fire, police and 911 dispatch, youth and senior services and community programs as examples of what it would support. Because it is a general tax, none of those uses is legally guaranteed.

What a no vote could mean

The City Council voted unanimously in June to place the tax on the ballot. That same month it approved a budget that laid off workers, cut vacant positions and eliminated programs including a winter homeless shelter and the Mobile Crisis Team, Berkeleyside reported. Officials have warned that if Measure V fails they could lay off police and fire employees, cut hours at recreation centers and close Fire Station 4 on Marin Avenue in North Berkeley. Some council members said in June that they would not vote to close that station even if the tax fails.

Supporters and critics

Supporters on the council say the increase would simply put Berkeley's rate on par with Oakland and Albany. "This is our proposal to the voters to try to mitigate some of the worst of those reductions," Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani said at the June meeting, according to Berkeleyside.

Critics who spoke at that meeting argued that a sales tax falls hardest on low-income households and could push shoppers out of the city. A city-commissioned poll in April found 52% of voters supported the increase. That is just over the simple majority the measure needs, and Berkeleyside noted the result was within the margin of error.

A crowded tax ballot

Measure V is one of several Berkeley money measures this fall. The others are the $300 million Measure U infrastructure bond, the Measure Y arts parcel tax, the Measure Z public bank parcel tax and Measure AA, which would double the soda tax. Voters in Alameda County will also decide a separate regional half-cent sales tax for BART, AC Transit and other transit systems. If both sales taxes pass, both increases would be added to today's 10.25% rate. The deadline to register online or by mail in Alameda County is Oct. 19. Same-day registration is still available after that.