Chevron payments make up nearly 24% of Richmond general fund, California city reveals accidentally

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Chevron paid Richmond more than $58.8 million in taxes and settlement payments — nearly 24% of the city’s budgeted general fund revenue — last fiscal year, according to a spreadsheet sent to Richmondside in response to a public records request.

Taxpayer information is typically kept private under state law and city code, but the city said it “inadvertently” released the information in response to a May public records request.

Richmondside requested Chevron’s tax and settlement payment records because the refinery is the city’s largest employer and single largest taxpayer, and because, historically, it has disputed how much it should pay in taxes.

Most recently, the company agreed to pay the city a $550 million settlement over 10 years to avoid a “ Make Polluters Pay ” measure from being placed on the ballot. If approved by Richmond voters, the measure would have increased taxes on refinery operations. The company has made the first of five annual $50 million settlement payments. Then, the annual settlement payment will be $60 million a year for five years.

Understanding the degree to which the city depends upon Chevron financially is of public interest because Chevron executives have indicated in recent months that ceasing operations entirely in California is not out of the question, due to state regulations they describe as unfriendly to refineries. Given Chevron’s contribution to Richmond’s revenue, closing the Richmond refinery would greatly impact the city’s finances and its ability to provide services.

Also relevant is Chevron’s August 2024 announcement that it had moved its corporate headquarters from eastern Contra Costa County to Texas while announcing layoffs in the Bay Area. That included 600 jobs at its corporate offices that were scheduled to be cut in June, 31 of them in Richmond and nearly three dozen more in El Segundo and Bakersfield, according to notices filed with the state.

Other oil companies have already closed refineries or scaled back their operations in Contra Costa County. The Marathon refinery in Martinez abruptly closed in 2020, and the Valero oil company on Thursday, Oct. 23 confirmed on its earning call that it would close its refinery in Benicia by April after its talks with the state failed to avoid a shutdown.

Nearly five months after the city released the spreadsheet, the city attorney’s office sent an email asking that the record be destroyed. The Oct. 8 email from Assistant City Attorney Christopher Dykzeul said that the city had “inadvertently” released protected taxpayer information and that disseminating this information would violate state law and city ordinances. However, there are legal precedents that protect journalists who publish information that is otherwise held privately, particularly if disclosure of the information is in the public’s interest, so long as the no laws were violated.

“It’s important for government agencies to remember that they cannot compel members of the news media to make certain editorial decisions, and they certainly cannot dictate what can and cannot be published,” said Gunita Singh, a staff attorney with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Richmondside has been investigating air pollution in the region since last summer, examining Chevron’s role as the city’s largest single source of pollution; its various settlements over flaring and other violations levied by the Bay Area Air District; ways the community is working to transition away from a fossil fuel-based economy; and what the future of west Contra Costa County might look like as refineries shut down across the globe.

A recent community event hosted by Richmondside explored how city officials are thinking about and responding to the potential closure of its largest and longest-standing single source of income.

Richmondside’s Public Records Act request asked for “Any and all documents/spreadsheets/memos, etc. that discuss Chevron’s annual financial contributions to the City of Richmond and/or what percentage those contributions account for in the city’s overall budget between January 1, 2024 and the date of this request.”

Ten days later, the city released a single PDF document detailing Chevron’s tax and settlement payments in the most recent fiscal year.

The document included two fields marked “Confidential” but the information was left visible, one line showing that Chevron paid $2,825,087 in business taxes for its refinery and local gas stations and another showing $1,187,417 was paid in business license taxes.

The document also lists the final $4 million payment from a 2010 settlement in which Chevron agreed to pay the city $114 million over 15 years to end a battle over how much it should pay in annual taxes. The last payment from that settlement was received in June 2024, the spreadsheet notes.

Chevron’s single largest line item on the spreadsheet is for utilities payments, which were nearly $37 million last fiscal year, an amount that the spreadsheet noted is updated annually based on the San Francisco Area Energy Services consumer price index.

All told, the city reported that Chevron paid $58,850,877 in taxes, utilities and settlement payments during the 2024-2025 fiscal year, equating to 23.6% of the city’s general fund budgeted revenue that year, which, after final cuts were made, was $248,935,372. (The spreadsheet sent to Richmondside had a slightly higher general fund budget amount.)

The general fund accounts for roughly half of the city budget and is used for operational costs such as staffing and basic city services. The other half of the budget, which was roughly $254 million last fiscal year, includes revenue that’s restricted for specific uses such as capital improvement projects and non-general program and service costs.

Richmond City Council member Claudia Jimenez, who has pushed for Chevron to pay more taxes because of the pollution it creates, said Friday that knowing the company’s exact contribution to Richmond’s finances is helpful as the city works to build an economy that’s not reliant on a single industry. She suggested that the company should be taxed at a higher rate than it has been historically.

“If they would have paid the right taxes that they needed to pay since the beginning, there will be more and more money that they will have to contribute to the general fund, and they haven’t done that,” Jimenez said. “Chevron hasn’t paid their fair taxes to the city in forever.”

On Oct. 6, the city uploaded a new version of the Chevron tax spreadsheet to its NextRequest portal, redacting Chevron’s sales and business license tax payments, its total payments to the city’s general fund, its total tax and settlement payments, and the exact percent of Chevron’s contribution to the general fund.

Two days later, Dykzeul, the assistant city attorney, demanded that any copies of the original, unredacted document be destroyed.

In the letter, Dykzeul cites sections of the California Revenue and Taxation Code and the Richmond Municipal Code that prohibit the release of sensitive tax information.

“It is unlawful for any person who has obtained access to such information to disclose, disseminate, copy, or otherwise make use of it in any manner,” Dykzeul wrote, asking that a written confirmation of the document’s destruction be sent to him. Richmondside informed him it would not do so.

On May 20, Chevron Richmond refinery spokesperson Caitlin Powell sent Cityside a press release about a study Chevron had commissioned with Oxford Economics, an independent economic advisory firm, highlighting the company’s financial contributions to west Contra Costa County.

“Given the current policy environment, we thought it was important to take a snapshot of the economic impact that Chevron’s refinery has on Richmond and West Contra Costa County,” Powell’s email said.

The report states that, in 2022, Chevron’s Richmond facilities contributed $1.1 billion to west Contra Costa County’s gross domestic product (GDP) and supported 3,830 jobs (or one of every 29 jobs in west county), with pay 56% higher than the regional average: $153,000 versus $98,000.

“This was equivalent to 5 percent of local GDP and 3 percent of all jobs in West Contra Costa County in 2022,” the report’s summary states.

Oxford Economics’ figures were also cited in a citywide mailer in June, which said Chevron has contributed $52 million toward local causes and charities since 2012, the year a fire at the refinery prompted 15,000 people to seek medical treatment. (Chevron settled a lawsuit over the fire with a $5 million payment to the city in 2018, among other settlements.)

“Of course, they want to use that as saying, ‘Look at how great we are doing all of these things,’ ” Jimenez said of the mailer. “But if we made a calculation from all the years that they have been existing and the lack of taxes that they have paid, does this make us whole? I would say no.”

Chevron’s Oxford report and flier lists 67 “social investment partners” for 2024, including scholarships for high school students, food banks, religious organizations, parks and schools.

After being contacted by Richmondside Friday for comment, Chevron did not answer a list of specific questions. Instead, it referenced the Oxford Economics report, while stating, “We are an essential part of the City of Richmond’s and the regional economy, contributing over $1 billion in economic activity annually.

“We believe a fiscally responsible city government that supports a wide variety of businesses is best for the local economy and the people of Richmond. Unfortunately, history tells us that the City of Richmond is not interested in pursuing that strategy.”

Chevron pointed to the city of Benicia losing “nearly 10% of its revenue” because the refinery there is closing.

“When refineries close, it’s not just an industry issue — it’s a community issue. Jobs are lost, local economies are impacted, and the state becomes more dependent on imported fuels,” Chevron’s statement continued. “We are proud of the partnership and benefits we bring to our Richmond community, but over-reliance on a single business is not a sustainable economic strategy. We must ensure policies, whether in Sacramento or Richmond, don’t continue to add disproportionate costs and impact the viability of critical energy infrastructure in the state.”

While Chevron touts its charitable giving, it does not have an associated nonprofit overseeing that giving, so it isn’t required to disclose its donations.

The last time Chevron’s exact contribution to Richmond’s budget was made public was in 2007, when the Pacific Institute in Oakland issued a report stating that Chevron was responsible for 10%, or about $25 million, of the city’s total revenue.

At the time, Chevron had sued the city and county, challenging its property taxes, which would have resulted in a $4.7 million loss to the city. The Pacific Institute found that Richmond lost out on an additional $4.7 million in revenue from changes in the utility user tax.

Knowing Chevron’s exact tax payments can help the public determine whether the company’s contributions are enough, in light of negative health impacts that refinery emissions and fossil fuel burning continue to have on the area. This was the push behind the “Make Polluters Pay” campaign, which would have taxed oil refining in Richmond at $1 per barrel, resulting in Chevron paying the city an additional $60 to $90 million annually.

Chevron’s first installment paid toward the recent $550 million settlement nearly doubles Chevron’s overall contribution to the city’s general fund.

Jimenez said the city council is still figuring out what to do with the settlement funds as the city works to transition away from extractive, fossil fuel-based industries to a more diversified economy.

“We can use the money in a really creative and smart way to move a little bit away from the dependency that we have today,” Jimenez said. “But who has to pay for that? It has to be from the polluters, from Chevron.”

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This story was originally published by Richmondside and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.