Marin voters face raft of initiatives on November ballot

Marin residents will be asked to decide the fate of more than a dozen initiatives on the Nov. 5 ballot, many of them involving housing.

Along with voters across the state, Marin voters will be asked to approve the largest affordable housing bond in California history. The $20 billion bond measure would cost property owners an estimated $18.98 per $100,000 of assessed valuation annually through fiscal year 2077-78. Paying off the principal and interest on the bonds would cost more than $48 billion.

“This is an unaffordable housing bond with the big winners being developers and the regional bureaucracy,” Mary Stompe, a member of the Marin Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers, wrote in an email.

The bond proceeds could be used to build housing that would be affordable to residents earning up to 120% of the area median income, or AMI.

”No other housing program subsidizes housing for a Marin family of four making $223,900,” wrote Stompe, retired executive director of PEP Housing, a nonprofit promoting home affordability. “This means that anyone making an average income or lower will be subsidizing housing via higher taxes for people making much more than they.”

Stompe added that $4 billion of the bond would go to “a new housing agency for its overhead and discretionary use, when we already have multiple housing agencies across the region.”

Leelee Thomas, deputy director of the Marin County Community Development Agency, had a different view.

“While county funds can serve workforce with incomes up to 120% of AMI, a local expenditure plan will prioritize how funds will be used,” Thomas said. “So far, we are hearing from community members who think extremely low-income households should be prioritized.”

Thomas said that if the measure passes, Marin County and local municipalities would divvy up $699 million to fund new housing. County supervisors have already allotted $450,000 to create a plan to spend the money and an additional $80,000 for public outreach, which began this month.

Normally the measure would require two-thirds voter support for passage. However, the Legislature placed a constitutional amendment on the Nov. 5 ballot that would lower the voter threshold to 55% for measures proposing affordable housing bonds. That means that if the constitutional amendment passes, the housing bond will only require 55% support to pass.

Local rent rules

Voters in three Marin municipalities will be given the option of either scrapping recently passed rent-control ordinances or making them stricter. In each case, the support of a majority of the voters is required for the measure to pass.

In Fairfax, the Town Council adopted a rent-control ordinance in 2022. After facing blowback, the council amended the ordinance increasing the cap from 60% of the regional consumer price index to 75%. It also adjusted some of the just-cause-for-eviction rules. In November, Fairfax residents will get to decide whether to keep the ordinance or scrap it.

Fairfax residents will also vote on whether they want to continue electing their town clerk or convert the office to a position appointed by the town manager or the council. The autonomy of the town clerk became an issue recently when Deputy Town Clerk Christine Foster, who is appointed, declined to answer basic questions about the rules and requirements of filing a recall petition.

Foster said she was not permitted to answer questions until after they had been screened by the town manager and town attorney. Fairfax’s elected town clerk, Michele Gardner, retired last year, and Foster has been filling both roles in the interim.

In San Anselmo, residents also will vote on whether to keep their rent-control ordinance, which the Town Council approved by a 3-2 vote in April. The ordinance limits annual rent increases to 5%, or 60% of the consumer price index, whichever is lower. The ordinance applies to properties with three or more dwellings on the same parcel, or contiguous parcels under common ownership.

San Anselmo voters will have the option of doubling down on rent control by approving a separate ordinance that would enact tenant protections. This ordinance would penalize landlords of properties with three or more dwellings who terminate a tenancy due to no fault of the tenant. Offending landlords would be required to pay relocation compensation to tenants who are required to move and provide the right to return to the dwelling on similar terms if the landlord rents again within five years.

In Larkspur, the City Council adopted an ordinance last year that capped annual rent increases at 5% plus inflation, or 7%, whichever was lower. In March, Larkspur voters narrowly upheld the ordinance after critics qualified a ballot referendum. On Nov. 5, voters will be asked if they want to make the ordinance tougher by reducing the annual cap to 60% of the consumer price index, or 3%, whichever is lower.

Tax measures

Residents in Novato and Mill Valley will be asked to approve increases in their sales taxes. Both measures require the support of a majority of voters to pass.

Novato voters will be asked to approve a three-quarter percent sales tax hike to address the city’s structural deficit. The city closed the 2023-24 fiscal year with a $3.3 million deficit after running deficits the prior three years, and the city’s recently approved 2024-25 budget has a $4.3 million deficit. With annual deficits exceeding $3 million projected in future years, the city expects to exhaust its general fund reserves by the end of the 2026-27 fiscal year.

Novato’s sales tax is 8.5%. The city estimates that the tax hike would bring in about $10.3 million a year. The tax increase does not include a sunset provision.

Mill Valley voters will be asked to approve a 1% sales tax increase for 10 years to pay for city infrastructure and services such as public safety and libraries, sewers and storm drain maintenance, and street and road programs. The city’s sales tax rate is currently 8.25%.

A city-appointed committee recently estimated that Mill Valley needs to generate $150 million to $180 million over the next 10 to 15 years to bolster its rapidly declining infrastructure. The tax is expected to bring in about $4.2 million per year.

Residents in Fairfax and San Rafael will also be asked to approve tax measures for community projects.

Fairfax voters will be asked to approve an $180 million bond measure to raise funds for repairing some of the town’s most heavily used roads. If the measure passes, property owners would pay approximately $30 per $100,000 of assessed value for 30 years. The support of two-thirds of the voters is necessary for approval, unless the state constitutional amendment passes and lowers the threshold to 55%.

The bond-funded plan focuses on the main routes through town, including Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, Bolinas Road, Center Boulevard, Broadway, Laurel Drive, Scenic Road, Willow Avenue and Porteous Avenue.

San Rafael voters will decide if they want to approve a parcel tax to fund the construction of a new main library and community center in the Albert Park neighborhood. Approval of the measure would result in an annual tax of 14.5 cents per square foot of improved building area for 30 years and $75 per vacant lot. The tax is expected to collect $6.37 million annually for 30 years. The support of a majority of the voters is required for passage.

Marin schools

Five schools districts are seeking approval from voters for tax measures. Three of the schools are proposing bond measures that would require the support of 55% of voters for passage.

The Tamalpais Union High School District is returning to voters with a request to approve a $289 million bond after failing to win support for a $517 million bond in March. If the measure passes, the annual tax would be $18 per $100,000 of assessed valuation per property.

The proceeds would be used to make repairs to the district’s five high schools, including new roofs, replacements for worn and potentially dangerous synthetic athletic turf fields and deteriorating swimming pool surfaces. Also, the district would improve heating and cooling systems, disability accommodations, plumbing and information technology systems.

The Kentfield School District is asking voters to approve the issuance of $48 million in bonds to be used to repair and upgrade Bacich Elementary School and Kent Middle School. If the measure is approved, the tax would be $29 per $100,000 of assessed value per year.

Residents living in the Petaluma Joint Union High School District, which includes a small slice of Marin voters, will be asked to approve a $159 million bond measure to make a number of repairs and upgrades to classrooms. If the measure passes, the tax will be $30 per $100,000 of assessed value.

Two other school districts are proposing parcel taxes, both of which require the support of two-thirds of voters for passage.

Voters in the Bolinas-Stinson Union School District will be asked to renew the district’s parcel tax, which expires on June 30, 2025. The measure proposes renewing the tax for another five years. The tax would be $390 per parcel the first year and increase 3% per year. People 65 or older would be exempt. It’s estimated the tax would generate $682,500 annually.

Voters in the Sausalito Marin City School District are being asked to approve its first parcel tax. The measure would assess an annual tax of 15 cents per square foot for each residential or commercial building for eight years. The assessment would be capped at buildings of 23,000 square feet. Owners of unimproved parcels would pay a flat tax of $25.

Residents in the Stinson Beach Fire Protection District are being asked to approve a parcel tax to fund fire protection and emergency services. Residents of the district would be required to pay 42 cents per improved square foot of property. The tax, which does not have a sunset date, could be increased at the discretion of the district’s board by up to 3% annually. It would generate an estimated $700,000 in annual revenue. Two-thirds support is required for passage.

Voters in the fire district are also being asked to approve an adjustment of the district’s appropriation limit. The vote is necessary to comply with the Gann Appropriations Limit, established by Proposition 4 in 1979. The measure will enable the district to spend money that is already being collected; it proposes no new fee or tax. The support of a majority of voters is required for passage.