City Council prioritizes long-term fiscal planning for 2024
At its last meeting of 2023, the City Council authorized plans to gather community input on future uses of revenue from Hayward’s half-cent sales tax that funds facility improvements, public safety and maintenance services.
As part of the effort, community members also will be asked their opinions on potentially extending but not increasing the City’s half-cent sales tax to replace and modernize certain structures and systems that support Hayward police, fire, paramedic, maintenance and library-based community enrichment and education services.
Earlier in 2023, Hayward marked the completion of a first phase of building and facility upgrades through the sales tax, which was approved by Hayward voters with the passage of Measure C in June 2014.
Through Measure C, the City of Hayward built and opened the new downtown branch of Hayward Public Library and a new Fire Station No. 6 and Regional Fire Training Center. We seismically strengthened and retrofitted five other fire stations and resurfaced a record number of streets.
In addition to facility improvements, Measure C sales-tax revenue, which now totals about $20 million a year, also allowed the City to increase maintenance staffing, enhance homelessness response resources, and add police officer and 9-1-1 dispatch positions to improve response times.
