City Government

Commentary: Budget Showdown in Oakland

Published

7 years ago

June 13, 2019

Community says Schaaf’s budget hides $45 million ‘slush fund’

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf could have responded to City Council President Rebecca Kaplan’s amendments to her administration’s proposed $2.3 billion city budget with diplomacy and negotiations, as many City Hall observers had expected she would.

She could have recognized that Kaplan’s budget proposals were a response to the growing frustrations of city workers and Oakland communities who are tired of standing on the sidelines of a booming economy—illustrated by a skyline full of construction cranes. Year after year, City Hall produces austerity budgets that communities say starve the needs of local residents who are desperate for stable housing, an end to homelessness, clean and well maintained streets and parks, programs for marginalized youth and wildfire safety.

Schaaf could have realized that Kaplan’s budget recommendations do no not belong to the council president alone but are backed by neighborhood and community groups as well as supporters of the “People’s Budget,” proposed by the ReFund Community-Labor Coalition, which includes city worker unions SEIU Local 1021 and IFPTE Local 21, EBASE, EBHO, Causa Justa: Just Cause, ACCE Action, the Anti Police-Terror Project, Street Level Health Project and others.

Instead of taking the path of negotiating and deliberating, Mayor Schaaf and her administration chose to come out swinging, opting for a head-on confrontation with Kaplan and the progressives on the City Council, attacking the proposals as irresponsible and vigorously defending continued austerity measures in response to community needs. Her budget directs a huge share of the city’s income into business-as-usual funding to the Oakland Police Department and the unregulated pot of money that goes to police overtime, which costs residents about $30 million a year.

On Monday, June 10, on the same day a special City Council meeting was scheduled to discuss the Schaaf Administration’s budget proposal and the proposed amendments, the mayor sent out a blast email to local residents accusing Kaplan of “deceit and political pandering” and calling Kaplan’s budget amendment proposal “one of the most dangerous proposals I’ve ever seen to threaten Oakland’s future.”

In a move that upset many city workers, Schaaf’s city administrator, Sabrina Landreth, sent an email to all city employees titled “Update on Labor Negotiations and FY 2019-21 Budget,” dated June 6, denouncing Kaplan’s proposals for relying on “fictitious revenues” that could “potentially result in layoffs of filled positions in (the) Department of Transportation, the Clerk’s Office, OPD non-sworn and possibly employees in departments across the city.”

Speaking at Monday evening’s council meeting, Landreth refused to present a summary of the mayor’s budget to the public, saying there was no need to do that because staff had presented the proposal May 7 and that answers to questions from council members and the public had been posted online. Landreth repeatedly rebuffed Kaplan’s invitation to explain the Schaaf administration’s budget proposal to the public at Monday’s council meeting.

Mobilizing in support of the People’s Budget and Kaplan’s proposals that embodied many of them, hundreds of people packed the City Council meeting, marching up the stairs to the council chambers, with drums beating.

The main floor and the gallery seating were full to capacity, and an overflow room was opened for those who could not find a seat. The city clerk announced that 117 people had signed up to speak on the budget.

A report was presented at the meeting by Kristen Schumacher, staff researcher for Local 21, which showed that for the past seven years the administration purposely undercounted revenues by an average of $45 million a year.

Many saw this as a blow to the administration’s contention that Kaplan’s proposals were based on “fictitious revenues.”

This money, not included in the budget or in the City Council’s public budget deliberations, could eventually be spent by the administration and the mayor as they saw fit.

“Property taxes have been under-projected every single year, transient occupancy taxes have been under-projected every single year, and business license taxes have come in a minimum of $3.6 million higher and a maximum of $9 million higher over each of these seven years,” Schumacher said.

“The real estate transfer tax has been under-projected every single year by a minimum of $1.7 million and as much as $28 million,” she said. “In addition to these systematic under-projections, the vast majority of city departments underspend their budgets due to hundreds of vacancies in the non-sworn personnel budget.”

Referring to the mayor’s approach to budget deliberations, Dwight McElroy, chief steward for SEIU Local 1021, who works in the city’s paving division, said, “If there is an alternative point of view that may benefit the citizens of this city—who the money really belongs to—I don’t want to see mudslinging. I don’t want to see allegations. I don’t want to read about bully tactics.”

Dwight McElroy, chief steward, SEIU Local 1021, calls on the City Council to pass City Council President Rebecca Kaplan’s budget proposals. Photo by Ken Epstein.

The $45 million per year that was left out of the budget for seven years, said McElroy, “is restricted and has minimum use to benefit this city. You want to talk about fiction, the way you budget is a fiction.”

Felipe Cuevas, chapter president of SEIU 1021, a heavy equipment mechanic for the City of Oakland for 20 years, said, ”I just don’t understand the eagerness of our City Administrator Sabrina Landreth to harass our members with a threat of a layoff when we don’t even have a budget yet.

“If something like that would happen, if you were going to go by the rules, that would happen after you had a budget,” he said. “My union will be filing (unfair labor practice) charges over the harassment and intimidation by the city administration.”

Cat Brooks, executive director of the Justice Teams Network, said, “We here…in mass, united across race, class, ideology, profession as one Oakland. Rebecca Kaplan’s budget is the only budget that reflects the values of the city, that reflects the priorities of the people of this city,” she said. It is a budget that “puts Oakland on the path toward being the city that we profess to be, a city that is progressive and rooted in justice, equity and humanity.”

In her remarks, Kaplan denied that her proposal involved laying off union workers.

“There is no such proposal,” she said. “That was an inaccurate characterization, and I think that is part of why people feel there is a lack of respect going on—in terms of making statements that are untrue about the proposals.”

Explaining her understanding of budget deliberations, Kaplan said:

“Adopting a budget is one of the most important things we as a council do. It is our legal duty to deliberate and adopt a budget. And it is the administrative [duty] to ensure that it is implemented. How we allocate money and what we allocate it to is core to how we take action collectively as a council to ensure the needs of our city. This is a chance to put our goals and values into action by putting dollar amounts beside them.”

Budget proposals are scheduled to be discussed at the June 18 council meeting and again on June 24, if needed. The deadline for passing the completed budget is June 30.

Ken Epstein

Posts by Ken Epstein

Up Next

Thousands of Police Officers Outed in Slew of Racist Facebook Posts

Don't Miss

Proposed Budget Boosts Infrastructure Investments

Ken Epstein

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of February 11 = 17, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 11 – 17, 2026

Published

22 hours ago

February 16, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Discrimination in City Contracts

The report was made public by Councilmember Carroll Fife, who brought it this week to the Council’s Life Enrichment Committee, which she chairs. Councilmembers, angry at the conditions revealed, unanimously approved the informational report, which is scheduled to go to an upcoming council meeting for discussion and action. The current study covers five years, 2016-2021, roughly overlapping the two tenures of Libby Schaaf, who served as mayor from January 2015 to January 2023.

Published

4 days ago

February 13, 2026

Oakland Post

Dr. Eleanor Ramsey (top, left) founder, and CEO of Mason Tillman Associates, which conducted the study revealing contract disparities, was invited by District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife (top center) to a Council committee meeting attended by Oakland entrepreneur Cathy Adams (top right) and (bottom row, left to right) Brenda Harbin-Forte, Carol Wyatt, and councilmembers Charlene Wang and Ken Houston. Courtesy photos.

Disparity Study Exposes Oakland’s Lack of Race and Equity Inclusion

Part 1

By Ken Epstein

A long-awaited disparity study funded by the City of Oakland shows dramatic evidence that city government is practicing a deeply embedded pattern of systemic discrimination in the spending of public money on outside contracts that excludes minority- and woman-owned businesses, especially African Americans.

Instead, a majority of public money goes to a disproportionate handful of white male-owned companies that are based outside of Oakland, according to the 369-page report produced for the city by Mason Tillman Associates, an Oakland-based firm that performs statistical, legal and economic analyses of contracting and hiring.

The current study covers five years, 2016-2021, roughly overlapping the two tenures of Libby Schaaf, who served as mayor from January 2015 to January 2023.

The amount of dollars at stake in these contracts was significant in the four areas that were studied, a total of $486.7 million including $214.6 million on construction, $28.6 million on architecture, and engineering, $78.9 million on professional services, and $164.6 million on goods and services.

While the city’s policies are good, “the practices are not consistent with policy,” said Dr. Eleanor Ramsey, founder and CEO of Mason Tillman Associates.

There have been four disparity studies during the last 20 years, all showing a pattern of discrimination against women and minorities, especially African Americans, she said. “You have good procurement policy but poor enforcement.”

“Most minority- and women-owned businesses did not receive their fair share of city-funded contracts,” she continued. “Over 50% of the city’s prime contract dollars were awarded to white-owned male businesses that controlled most subcontracting awards. And nearly 65% of the city’s prime contracts were awarded to non-Oakland businesses.”

As a result, she said, “there is a direct loss of revenue to Oakland businesses and to business tax in the city… There is also an indirect loss of sales and property taxes (and) increased commercial office vacancies and empty retail space.”

Much of the discrimination occurs in the methods used by individual city departments when issuing outside contracts. Many departments have found “creative” ways to circumvent policies, including issuing “emergency” contracts for emergencies that do not exist and providing waivers to requirements to contract with women- and minority-owned businesses, Ramsey said.

Many of the smaller contracts – 59% of total contracts issued – never go to the City Council for approval.

Some people argue that the contracts go to a few big companies because small businesses either do not exist or cannot do the work. But the reality is that a majority of city contracts are small, under $100,000, and there are many Black-, woman- and minority-owned companies available in Oakland, said Ramsey.

“Until we address the disparities that we are seeing, not just in this report but with our own eyes, we will be consistently challenged to create safety, to create equity, and to create the city that we all deserve,” said Fife.

A special issue highlighted in the disparity report was the way city departments handled spending of federal money issued in grants through a state agency, Caltrans. Under federal guidelines, 17.06%. of the dollars should go to Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs).

“The fact is that only 2.16% of all the dollars awarded on contracts (went to) DBEs,” Ramsey said.

Speaking at the committee meeting, City Councilmember Ken Houston said, “It’s not fair, it’s not right. If we had implemented (city policies) 24 years ago, we wouldn’t be sitting here (now) waiving (policies).”

“What about us? We want vacations. We want to have savings for our children. We’re dying out here,” he said.

Councilmember Charlene Wang said that she noticed when reading the report that “two types of business owners that are consistently experiencing the most appalling discrimination” are African Americans and minority females.

“It’s gotten worse” over the past 20 years, she said. “It’s notable that businesses have survived despite the fact that they have not been able to do business with their own city.”

Also speaking at the meeting, Brenda Harbin-Forte, a retired Alameda County Superior Court judge, and chair of the Legal Redress Committee for the Oakland NAACP, said, “I am so glad this disparity study finally was made public. These findings … are not just troubling, they are appalling, that we have let these things go on in our city.”

“We need action, we need activity,” she said. “We need for the City Council and others to recognize that you must immediately do something to rectify the situation that has been allowed to go on. The report says that the city was an active or inactive or unintentional or whatever participant in what has been going on in the city. We need fairness.”

Cathy Adams, president of the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce, said, “The report in my opinion was very clear. It gave directions, and I feel that we should accept the consultant Dr. Ramsey’s recommendations.

“We understand what the disparities are; it’s going to be upon the city, our councilmembers, and our department heads to just get in alignment,” she said.

Said West Oakland activist Carol Wyatt, “For a diverse city to produce these results is a disgrace. The study shows that roughly 83% of the city contracting dollars went to non-minority white male-owned firms under so-called race neutral policies

These conditions are not “a reflection of a lack of qualified local firms,” she continued. “Oakland does not have a workforce shortage; it has a training, local hire, and capacity-building problem.”

“That failure must be examined and corrected,” she said. “The length of time the study sat without action, only further heightens the need for accountability.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Post Newspaper Invites NNPA to Join Nationwide Probate Reform Initiative

The Post’s Probate Reform Group meets the first Thursday of every month via Zoom and invites the public to attend. The Post is making the initiative national and will submit information from its monthly meeting to the NNPA to educate, advocate, and inform its readers.

Published

7 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Tanya Dennis

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) represents the Black press with over 200 newspapers nationwide.

Last night the Post announced that it is actively recruiting the Black press to inform the public that there is a probate “five-alarm fire” occurring in Black communities and invited every Black newspaper starting from the Birmingham Times in Alabama to the Milwaukee Times Weekly in Wisconsin, to join the Post in our “Year of Action” for probate reform.

Reporter Tanya Dennis says, “The adage that ‘When America catches a cold, Black folks catch the flu” is too true in practice; that’s why we’re engaging the Black Press to not only warn, but educate the Black community regarding the criminal actions we see in probate court: Thousands are losing generational wealth to strangers. It’s a travesty that happens daily.”

Venus Gist, a co-host of the reform group, states, “ Unfortunately, people are their own worst enemy when it comes to speaking with loved ones regarding their demise. It’s an uncomfortable subject that most avoid, but they do so at their peril. The courts rely on dissention between family members, so I encourage not only a will and trust [be created] but also videotape the reading of your documents so you can show you’re of sound mind.”

In better times, drafting a will was enough; then a trust was an added requirement to ‘iron-clad’ documents and to assure easy transference of wealth.

No longer.

As the courts became underfunded in the last 20 years, predatory behavior emerged to the extent that criminality is now occurring at alarming rates with no oversight, with courts isolating the conserved, and, I’ve heard, many times killing conservatees for profit. Plundering the assets of estates until beneficiaries are penniless is also common.”

Post Newspaper Publisher Paul Cobb says, “The simple solution is to avoid probate at all costs. If beneficiaries can’t agree, hire a private mediator and attorney to work things out. The moment you walk into court, you are vulnerable to the whims of the court. Your will and trust mean nothing.”

Zakiya Jendayi, a co-host of the Probate Reform Group and a victim herself, says, “In my case, the will and trust were clear that I am the beneficiary of the estate, but the opposing attorney said I used undue influence to make myself beneficiary. He said that without proof, and the judge upheld the attorney’s baseless assertion. In court, the will and trust is easily discounted.”

The Black press reaches out to 47 million Black Americans with one voice. The power of the press has never been so important as it is now in this national movement to save Black generational wealth from predatory attorneys, guardians and judges.

The next probate reform meeting is on March 5, from 7 – 9 p.m. PST. Zoom Details:
Meeting ID: 825 0367 1750
Passcode: 475480

All are welcome.