UPDATE: San Jose drops parks maintenance tax measure

San Jose city officials have delayed plans to put a measure to fund parks maintenance on the November ballot after multiple surveys showed it would likely fail to gain support from residents.

The San Jose City Council unanimously voted on Tuesday to reconsider the idea for the 2026 election, or possibly later. The proposed ballot measure aimed to levy an annual parcel tax of 1 cent per square foot on single-family homes and other property, and was touted as potentially raising $21 million per year to maintain and improve parks, playgrounds, trails and more under the city parks department.

Putting the measure before voters in November would cost the city $2.5 million, Councilmember Bien Doan said. While the city’s parks have multimillion-dollar maintenance backlogs, parks advocates said a potential tax bond to help fund the backlog should be pushed back. They said city officials should focus on an education campaign first before trying to put the tax before voters in three months.

“It doesn’t appear there is a whole lot of room for arguments and support to make progress with voters,” Peter Hamilton, an assistant in the city manager’s office, said at the meeting. “This is the reason for staff’s recommendation to defer consideration of this measure to the 2026 cycle.”

Jean Dresden, founder of San Jose Park Advocates, said city surveys acted as advertisements for the potential measure in what she describes as push polls designed to sway voters.

“This fall is a chaotic year, and research suggests that parcel tax measures do better in odd years,” Dresden told San José Spotlight. “So the council should direct staff to begin moving toward full preparation for an odd year rather than putting it on the ballot immediately — there’s enough support out there to continue preparing and educating voters.”

California parcel tax measures have a 62% approval rate during odd years, according to a 2023 Ballotpedia study.

Mayor Matt Mahan said at the meeting that the surveys didn’t yield the results city officials hoped to see, but concerns from residents including existing costs of living and public safety challenges played a factor in the potential ballot measure’s lack of support.

“Our parks are a beloved community resource used by everyone, including my own family,” Mahan told San José Spotlight. “While I’d like to see more resources directed toward them, I hear daily from residents about the high cost of living. Given these concerns and the results of polling requested by the city, I don’t think a new tax would have their support, or make sense this election cycle.”

San Jose’s parks department has a more than $554 million infrastructure backlog, according to a city status report from this year — with many East Side parks in disrepair. Most of the city’s parks budget comes from development fees, and advocates are calling for the city to diversify funding in what they said is an equity issue.

Not everyone is optimistic about the idea of more resources. District 10 Parks and Recreation Commissioner Ken Brennan recently sent a letter to city officials saying the department needs to be more efficient with its money before receiving more.

“(The parks department) should not be given any new resources for maintenance until all existing program spending is rationalized on a cost per outcome basis and maintenance operations have been fully rationalized and optimized to improve productivity and reduce wasteful spending,” Brennan wrote. “A new comprehensive (parks department) audit should be conducted.”

His recommendations also included cutting events and meals meant to show appreciation for park volunteers, adding that free parking passes could suffice as a sign of the city’s gratitude.

Brennan told San José Spotlight the parcel tax would add yet another financial burden on residents for services that the city should be able to provide with existing resources.

Dresden said the parks department already underwent an audit in 2020, and much of Brennan’s concerns are in the process of being implemented as part of existing audit recommendations.

While Councilmember Arjun Batra said there needs to be more clarity around what maintenance is actually required, Vice Mayor Rosemary Kamei said the parks department is working on maintenance around the clock — and residents have started their own regular clean ups at local parks.

“We need a plan as to how to get the advocates and the community engaged in a way that they know that it’s their plan,” Kamei said. “And yes — we need more funding.”

As San Jose neighborhoods celebrate Tuesday’s National Night Out, Councilmember Pam Foley said she and other residents will be careful not to trip over pulled up roots or other obstacles in under-maintained parks.

“We just have to figure out how we can advocate, how we can create, how we can survey our community so that we will be successful, and so that we raise the percentage of success before we go to the ballot,” she said.