Title
Status Update on Prior Vacant Property Tax Exploration (LR25-004)
End
FileID
File ID: 2026-00397
End
Location
Location: Citywide
End
Recommendation
Recommendation: Receive a status update on prior exploration of a vacant property tax and related outreach.
End
Contact
Contact: Greta Soos, AICP, Senior Planner, (916) 808-2027, gsoos@cityofsacramento.org; Remi Mendoza, Long Range Planning Manager, (916) 808-5003, rmendoza@cityofsacramento.org; Community Development Department
End
Presenter
Presenter: Greta Soos, AICP, Senior Planner, (916) 808-2027, gsoos@cityofsacramento.org, Community Development Department
End
Attachments
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-Outreach Summary
3-Vacant Property Tax Adoption Pathways
End
Description/Analysis
IssueDetail
Issue Detail: The topic of vacant parcels and properties has received increased attention in recent years due to concerns about blight, empty buildings and storefronts, and prolonged periods of inactivity on vacant parcels.
A formal discussion on taxing vacant properties was requested by City Council on January 31, 2023. Staff brought a discussion item to the Law and Legislation Committee on March 7, 2023, and again on December 5, 2023. At the December 2023 meeting, Committee members requested that staff conduct voter polling and outreach before moving forward with a potential measure. The results showed that while a solid majority of survey participants (57%) backed the establishment of a vacant property tax, this support fell short of the required two-thirds threshold. As a result, the City did not advance a vacant property tax measure at that time.
At the September 16, 2025 Law and Legislation Committee meeting, staff requested Committee direction to conduct additional voter polling and outreach to inform the development of a draft ballot measure for City Council consideration. The committee did not authorize staff to conduct voter polling, however requested that st...
Click here for full text