The National City Council voted 3-2 Tuesday to reject Councilmember Jose Rodriguez’s bid to place the city’s failed business license tax measure on the 2028 primary ballot, rebuffing his push to bypass an ad hoc advisory process the council created after shelving a gross receipts tax proposal last month.
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Rodriguez, who is running for mayor, had filed a formal request, known as a Policy 105, asking the council to place an item on its Oct. 6 agenda to reconsider putting the previously discussed tax proposal before voters for the March 2028 primary election rather than a 2027 special election — as had been previously proposed by the council during a split vote.
“A special election not only is more costly to the city, it disenfranchises voters because voter turnout is much, much lower during special elections,” Rodriguez said. “It is only fair to allow a sizable portion of our community to actually vote.”
Mayor Ron Morrison countered that the council had already directed staff in August to work with the National City Chamber of Commerce toward a possible 2027 special election by means of the ad hoc advisory process. He introduced a substitute motion to block the request from moving forward.
The substitute motion passed 3-2, with Councilmember Ditas Yamane joining Rodriguez in dissent.
Three public speakers opposed Rodriguez’s request. Randi Castle-Salgado accused him of “grandstanding” from the dais and said an ad hoc committee formed after the council’s August vote had not yet met.
“Stop grandstanding, stop campaigning from the dais,” she said.
Sherry Gogue challenged Rodriguez’s earlier public claim that 70% of residents supported the business license tax overhaul, saying the figure came from a survey of 500 people rather than a larger representative sample of city residents.
Resident Edward Nieto, who is running for the District 3 council seat, also spoke in opposition to Rodriguez’s request, saying, “I just don’t understand how we’re coming to a conclusion before the (ad hoc advisory) work’s actually done.”
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Tuesday’s vote follows weeks of escalating tension over how to close the city’s budget deficit. The council voted 3-2 on Aug. 5 to pull a proposed gross receipts tax from the November ballot after opposition from business owners, instead directing staff to negotiate with the Chamber of Commerce toward a later ballot attempt. Rodriguez and Yamane cast the dissenting votes then, too.
City Manager Doug Schulze has warned the city’s roughly $13 million deficit could grow to $15 million by 2028 and $30 million by 2029, with insolvency possible by 2030 absent intervention. The city’s unassigned reserve fund, an estimated $13.1 million, is projected to fall to about $200,000 by June 2027, according to Schulze.
The dispute has become a flashpoint in the race to succeed Morrison, who is retiring after 34 years in city government. Rodriguez and Councilmember Marcus Bush, the two leading mayoral candidates, have repeatedly clashed over the issue.
At a Sept. 8 council meeting, Rodriguez cited a city business license fee study showing the top 100 businesses generate 57.5% of gross receipts in National City but pay only 29.2% of total business tax collected. He accused Bush of siding with large businesses by voting against the August ballot measure.
Bush has said he opposed the August measure because of its rushed timeline, calling for a tax reform proposal the city can pursue collaboratively with the business community.
Councilmember Luz Molina credited Schulze with “setting in motion the plan” directed by the council majority and said the city was “proceeding in the right direction despite other attempts.”
Morrison has endorsed Bush in the mayoral race and Molina in her District 1 re-election bid. Molina voted with Bush and Morrison to reject Rodriguez’s proposal.
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