Fremont voters put the city’s hopes of gaining more funding to a halt after a survey conducted in June said residents are struggling with the cost of gas, groceries and housing.
The Fremont City Council on July 21 decided not to place a sales tax measure on the November ballot, deferring the measure to a future election. The proposed measure was a citywide half-cent-per-dollar sales tax. The city would have gained $30 million to $35 million per year towards its general fund if the measure were to pass.
The main reason for dropping the measure came from the results of a survey conducted by FM3 Research. In 2025, the opinion research firm asked likely voters if they would support a possible sales tax measure. Support for the measure last year was 60%. In June, only 46% of voters said they would support the measure. The measure needed 50% + 1 votes to pass.
About 611 phone interviews and online surveys were conducted in June. Support dropped when voters were asked about the sales tax lasting nine years and after being provided more information about the ballot measure.
Curt Below with FM3 said they made inferences when naming cost of living is the reason voters would not support the sales tax measure. The firm asked what they thought were serious issues facing Fremonters today, and gave examples. Interviewees said out of all the issues, their top serious problems are homelessness, cost of living and cost of housing.
City staff said the lack of support could also be because of a crowded ballot this November. There are more than 10 statewide ballot initiatives, including BART’s multi-county sales tax measure to fund BART and prevent station closures.
Councilmember Yang Shao said, considering the cost of food, gas and the war on Iran, the proposed sales tax measure does not stand a chance at passing, even with the low more than 50% threshold.
“No one could predict that by the November election, everything will return to normal, and the gas price will drop to pre-war, and the inflation will be controlled, and to a point that the Federal Reserve will drop the interest rate, and so that the economy will boom. You know, all those are, of course, wishful thinkings, but the trend doesn’t look pretty.”
Mayor Raj Salwan said the data makes it clear that people would not support the tax measure. He was surprised that support dropped after the measure was explained and after being asked about a nine-year sunset. “I think in this environment, we have to be very careful. Our residents are squeezed, you know, with gas and groceries, and bread and butter issues,” Salwan said.
He added, “I think the responsible call at this time is to postpone this measure, not to put it on the ballot. And that’s kind of where I land. Asking for a tax when we know it’s gonna fail is probably not a good use of public funds.”
