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EMERYVILLE -- Voters in Tuesday's election decided to change the way the city levies business license fees in an attempt to increase municipal revenues.
That means Pixar Studios will have to start paying the fees, which the company ceased to do after Disney acquired the studio in 2006. Measure C, approved by 81 percent of voters, also increases the tax rate from 0.08 percent of gross receipts to 0.10 percent.
A little more than 79 percent of voters who turned out Tuesday or mailed in ballots voted yes on Measure D. The measure is expected to affect Pixar, Novartis and LeapFrog by raising the cap on the tax from the current $117,000 to $300,000 a year.
Voters defeated Measure F, an initiative to force the Emeryville City Council to contract outside legal services. Outgoing Councilmember Ken Bukowski, who lost his re-election bid Tuesday, spearheaded the measure that would have forced the city to contract out for legal services. The measure would have had no legal effect because Emeryville already contracts for its city attorney services, City Clerk Karen Hemphill said. The measure was defeated by a vote of 65 percent to 35 percent.
Emeyville does not "contract for legal services" by any meaningful use of the term. MESA, the "contracting agency" is no more than a"joint power" of the City and Redevelopment Agency, and throughout the No on Measure F argument in the voter pamphlet Biddle was referred to as an "in-house" attorney. How can he be both "in-house" and "contracted out" at the same time?
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