We have submitted our ballot language with suggested improvements to the City Council Referred Initiative drafters. We would also appreciate all of your input on where you feel changes/improvements should be made. Please provide changes on the document as comments only or send suggestions to me that I will include in the document. Thank you all for your help! Here are several equity improvements we have suggested:
- New tiered tax rate for residential that does not tax usage below the residential sector average usage. Most normal households will not be taxed (30 to 40% of households are below average use). The average is seasonally adjusted so as to not unfairly tax people in summer and winter when bills are highest.
- Any household already in a city low-income program (even non-energy programs) will be automatically exempted from the tax no matter their usage rate.
- Any household making less than 100% AMI (changed from 50%) can apply to be exempted in case they do not fall into the first two groups and are feeling energy-burdened. The only criteria to meet is being less than 100% AMI which is $65k for single and $92.8k for family of four.
- All community board members will be compensated for their time.
- We are encouraging all equity groups to send us suggested improvements to the rest of the language.
- You can review the new language here.
Preview attachment Suggested Edits for Council Referred Initiative
