NATIONAL CITY (KGTV) — A controversial business license fee tax that National City voted to table for the November ballot last month returned to the agenda at Tuesday night's city council meeting.
The request to add the item for discussion on a future agenda in October drew pushback from residents.
Tuesday night's request was voted down.
Councilmember Jose Rodriguez, who is also running for mayor, brought the item forward and said he wants the topic of reforming the city's business license fee tax to stay relevant this election season, because it won't go before voters again until 2028.
Rodriguez said besides keeping the discussion about the business license fee tax alive this election season, he also wanted to avoid a scenario where it would go to a special election.
"A special election not only is more costly to the city, but it also disenfranchises voters because voter turnout is much, much lower during special elections," Rodriguez said.
Some National City residents disagreed with Rodriguez's move, citing that steps were already underway to reform the business license fee tax, starting with the creation of a new ad hoc advisory committee.
"This thing is being totally politicized," Paul Waponski, longtime National City resident, said.
Waponski said he agrees that it is time to change the business license fee tax.
"The reform needs to happen; everybody understands that it's outdated and needs to be reworked," Waponski said.
Waponski said the issue was that the ballot measure for 2026 felt rushed, and many small businesses were unaware of the impacts it would have on them. He also believes there was misinformation being spread from a survey that was done to gather how National City businesses felt about the potential increase and need for funding city services.
The tax was discussed throughout the summer between city council and many local business associations.
ABC 10News reported that many of the businesses were pushing back and agreed that more public outreach and a restructuring of how the fee increases would work needed to happen so voters could decide in 2028.
The fee increase controversy also came as City Manager Doug Schulze revealed that the City's spending was outpacing its revenue, and there would be a potential for National City to reach insolvency by 2030.
While Rodriguez's request was denied Tuesday night, he still maintains that the increase in the business license fee tax needs to happen sooner rather than later. He states that many out-of-town corporations are not paying their "fair share" while operating within the City because the current rate is so low, and National City is missing out on millions that other cities are making because their business license fee tax is higher.
