POT SEEN AS BUDGET POT OF GOLD

OAKLAND -- Come July, voters will have a chance to decide on tax
measures -- including a levy on medical marijuana -- meant to help
fill a gaping hole in the city's budget.

In a meeting that stretched well into Tuesday night, City Council
members unanimously gave the go-ahead for a special July 21 ballot
that will include a 1.8 percent business tax -- or $18 on every
$1,000 -- in gross receipts earned by Oakland's medical marijuana dispensaries.

The proposal passed easily among the full City Council because the
levy has the potential to generate about $300,000 in annual revenue
for the city. The $18 figure was a compromise between the original
proposal of $14 and the $24 figure that approximates the state's tax
on cigarettes and alcohol, city officials said.

The $24 figure is the highest rate the city can tax businesses and is
reserved only for firearm dealers, of which there are none in Oakland.

Dispensary owners were supportive of putting the tax proposal on the
July 21 ballot because it opens the door for legitimizing medical marijuana.

Not all the tax proposals, however, made it through the council,
which is desperately looking for ways to stanch a deficit that could
reach $83 million in the 2009-10 fiscal year. Already on the ballot
are measures to reduce mandated spending on youth programs, to raise
the city's Hotel Tax, and close a loophole in the city's property
transfer tax that exempts transfers of real estate through corporate
mergers or acquisitions.

A proposed sales tax increase that would have put Oakland in the
running for highest sales tax in the county didn't get enough votes
to put it on the emergency ballot. The measure failed to get the
necessary support because of concern the quarter-cent to half-cent
sales tax would unduly burden low-income residents as well as make
retail items in Oakland unattractive to consumers because of the
higher cost of goods and services compared with its neighbors.

Councilmember Jean Quan (Montclair-Laurel) also decided to postpone
her proposal for an annual $46 parcel tax that would have been used
for maintenance of the city's more than 300 acres of parks, as well
as tree-trimming and lighting.

Fees for the city's pools will go up slightly for all but youth swimmers.

In other business, council members approved a "one-stop" business
center that would streamline the process of setting up shop in
Oakland. Under the plan, businesses will be able to go to the center
for information about licenses, permits, city regulations and
referrals, as well as guidance about how to do business with the city
and how to comply with its rules.

The center signified a "culture of change," said Councilmember Pat
Kernighan, that facilitates doing business in Oakland instead of
putting up "one obstacle after another." The bulk of the $435,000
needed to open and staff the Oakland Business Assistance Center will
come from redevelopment project funds.