Oakland voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly defeated three ballot measures that would have given more power and $60 million in parcel taxes to City Hall.

Sixty-two percent of voters defeated Measure I, a parcel tax that Mayor Jean Quan and some council members said was essential to stabilizing the city budget.

Seventy-three percent of voters defeated Measure H, which would have given the City Council, rather than voters, power to choose a city attorney.

Fifty-three percent of voters defeated Measure J, which would have allowed the city to change the deadline for fully funding a police and fire retirement plan for employees hired before June 30, 1976.

The defeat of three measures sends "a clear message," said Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente.

"The reality is that more money is not the answer," he said. "We need to manage what we have and hold people accountable."

Quan, who had made the parcel tax a central element of her budget strategy, released a statement saying that the parcel tax defeat would prevent the city from restoring senior center hours, fixing roads, upgrading Internet access at libraries and, most critically, maintaining police staffing.

"The city finances remain very fragile," Quan wrote. "Fortunately the city has for the first time in many years the required $30 million in reserves. I will continue to work with the community to find new ways to generate revenue including economic development projects and attracting new businesses to Oakland."

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The failure of the parcel tax is a blow to Quan's leadership in particular. She had argued that city staff had taken 10 percent pay cuts and that she had cut bureaucracy and services by $58 million. She argued that taxpayers were the third group that needed to step up to the help the budget.

But the measures were approved in July, well before Quan was beset by controversy over her handling of Occupy Oakland, an encampment in front of City Hall whose existence and removal angered both her critics as well as her longtime supporters. She is also a target of a recall campaign.

The city's costs of clearing out and policing the encampment ballooned to $2.4 million this week. Even though the camp was cleared on Monday morning, costs continue to rise due to a heavy police presence at camp gatherings, which are continuing.

Quan said that because of Occupy Oakland, she had been unable to campaign for the parcel tax.

"This is the type of campaign you need to put your full heart and soul in," Quan said Tuesday.

Only 24.9 percent of registered Oakland voters took part in the special election, which was only vote-by-mail.

The parcel tax would ostensibly have funded a range of services, including police and policing technology, fire protection, parks and recreation, library services, youth violence prevention, roads, and senior services.

But how the parcel tax revenues would have been divided among the various services was not specified in the ballot measure, prompting criticism that the tax would be like a blank check to City Hall.

In an effort to blunt that criticism, Quan and five council members voted last month on a spending plan for the first year of the five-year tax.

That plan included $6.2 million to the Police Department for hiring officers, buying new equipment and hiring crime analysts; $1.5 million for roads; $1.2 million for hiring gardeners and tree trimmers for city parks; and $600,000 for improving street lighting as a crime-prevention tactic, an idea often discussed by Councilwoman Desley Brooks.

The council approved the plan on Oct. 18, a day after mail voting began. And because the plan was not part of the actual ballot measure, critics warned the council could change the plan in the future.