On May 11, 2010 Council approved moving forward with the formation of a Community Facilities District (CFD) as part of the Levi's Stadium project. A CFD is a special district that can issue debt for the planning, design, acquisition, construction, and/or operation of public facilities, as well as provide public services. Special tax assessments levied by the district are used to repay the debt. A CFD can be formed only if approved by a majority of affected property owners.

This CFD includes hotel properties in the vicinity of Levi's Stadium. These hotel property owners voted unanimously to place a special tax on hotel room nights equivalent to a 2% transient occupancy tax (TOT). This special tax is pledged to finance portions of the publicly owned infrastructure for the stadium project, up to a cap of $35 million (excluding debt service and other financing costs), and the City was authorized to issue and sell bonds or incur other forms of debt to finance these improvements. The debt is secured by and payable solely from the special taxes to be levied on the hotel properties within the community facilities district, and does not represent an obligation or debt of the City or the General Fund.

The hotel tax took effect on October 1, 2014.