City of Alameda Files Second Appeal in Sales Tax Dispute With Livermore

At last night’s City Council meeting, Council heard that city staff have filed a second appeal with the State Board of Equalization in a dispute with the City of Livermore which could cost Alameda $1.1 million.

The case has been dragging on for some time now. In short, a business-to-business sales tax generating company moved from Alameda to Livermore and over a period of roughly eight months, the State Board of Equalization (BOE) paid just over $1.1 million of sales tax receipts generated by the company to the City of Alameda. The City of Livermore subsequently did an audit, and laid claim to the funds which would mean that Alameda would have to pay them back to Livermore.

Deputy City Manager Lisa Goldman told Council that the basis of the appeal is information the City of Alameda has which shows that the company maintained tax residency in Alameda for a period of eight to nine months that overlap with their residency in Livermore. But she didn’t sound too confident about winning the appeal – she indicated that should the BOE uphold their ruling, the City of Alameda would have to make their first installment payment of $250,000 in March of 2010, and pay the balance off over eight consecutive quarters through fiscal years 2010-’11 and 2011-’12