The future of Oakland’s leadership is up in the air following the Nov. 5 election.
While voters recalled Mayor Sheng Thao, they also elected City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas to Alameda County’s 5th Supervisor District. Had Bas remained on the council, she would have assumed the role of acting mayor. The acting mayor position will now fall to Council President Pro Tempore Dan Kalb, but he too is on his way out. Jan. 6 is Kalb’s last day on the Oakland City Council.
On Jan. 6, the council will swear in the new dais. A vote will then be held for the next Council President. Whoever that person is will take the reins from Kalb. A special election for mayor will then be held in April.
Oakland’s Budget Crisis
The Alameda County Registrar estimates that the special mayoral election will cost $19 to $21 per voter. That comes out to more than $5 million. That’s a big price tag for Oskland, which is facing financial headwinds.
“Fecklessness and failure to take dramatic and immediate steps to reduce expenditures will almost certainly result in insolvency,” officials warned in a recent budget report.
The city’s budget administrator has advised the Oakland City Council to cut $115 million from its $2.2 billion budget by the end of the year.
A New Form of Government?
Oakland’s fiscal crisis and leadership problems have revived an age-old debate about strong mayor vs. council-manager forms of government.
Steve Falk, who served as Oakland’s interim public administrator in 2020 and 2023, believes the city needs a stronger mayor in order to address its challenges. That’s in line with a 2021 report from SPUR, which recommended that the mayor be given more power over legislation, including line item veto power over the budget.
The report advised Oakland to transition from its hybrid council-manager/strong mayor form of government to “a clearly defined strong mayor form of government.”
You can read the report here.