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Please vote No on this Tax.

● It will create an expensive, unelected bureaucracy that governs whether you can have trees/shrubs on your property - based on the opinion of some out-of-state consultant. 

● More taxes make it impossible for families to live here. Marin homeowners already pay thousands annually for added taxes. We will have the rich, and homeless.

● Local governments will ignore pension problems by passing “scare-taxes” to pay for the same work firefighters are doing now, and use that money for bloated pensions. 

A new Joint Powers Association “JPA” may override your local jurisdiction on matters not yet defined. If your town protects trees, and others don’t, your community can be overridden. You could be ordered to kill every living plant within 5 feet of your house, like in Mill Valley. Council members dropped the proposal after hearing from angry voters. Here an unelected JPA Board rules. 

The promoters promise what we have already: Well-funded Fire Departments working together doing fire inspections, reducing hazardous vegetation, expanding neighborhood safety and preparedness programs. We were just taxed twice for Emergency Radio to guide us.

Residents of the Ross Valley passed a tax that supposedly went to Flood Protection. Over a decade later nearly all the money has gone to consultants and studies. A cautionary tale. 

The toothless "oversight committee" has no real power to stop this. 

Supporters’ fearmongering that insurance rates will go up in Marin is unfounded. 

Reject scare tactics, protect your property rights.

MICHAEL HARTNETT for

MARIN PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE

DIANA PERDUE

Fairfax

Voters should reject Measure B, an unfair and unaffordable ten-year parcel tax renewal and dramatic increase. Your taxes start at $645 a year,
increasing 3% annually, reaching $842 in 10 years. Up from $300 just 2 years ago.

Voters passed a $149 second parcel tax for TUHSD in 2018 (on top of the larger existing one). TUHSD is adding back costs reduced just last year and wants another $190!

Measure B is unfair because it’s a flat rate. A studio pays the same as a mansion, mall or apartment complex.

TUHSD says this tax hike request was always part of the plan. This was not disclosed to voters who approved Measure J 16 months ago.
Rising enrollment is the supposed reason for a higher tax. But their own study shows enrollment declines start in 3 years.
No 10-year financial forecast justifies the proposed 10-year tax.
Pension expenses are why we’re facing so many tax measures. TUHSD must lobby Sacramento for reform instead of hitting homeowners with increasing parcel taxes.

Seniors and medically disabled: Though you can get an exemption from this tax, it DOES harm you. Your friends, neighbors, and caregivers are forced out by unaffordability. Your kids can’t live nearby. Higher taxes don’t help property values, and they threaten your quality of life.
Don’t believe threats of teacher layoffs and rising class sizes. Current parcel taxes don’t expire until 2022, giving the District time to rethink its needs and present a fairer, more affordable proposal.

The Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers supported 2018’s Measure J as a 4-year urgent measure for a school district threatened by insolvency. With 2018 Measure J’s $5 million annual infusion, TUHSD hasn’t made the case for a much higher tax lasting 10 years. CO$T OPPOSES Measure B.
VOTE NO.

COALITION OF SENSIBLE TAXPAYERS Mimi Willard, President

LAURA EFFEL
COST Director and former Grand Juror

PASCAL SISICH
Retired affordable housing director, and tax oversight committee member

DOUG KELLY
COST Director and former San Anselmo Town Councilmember

ROBERT MILTNER
Parent of 2 Redwood graduates

Only a year ago, voters approved a $149 Tam Union parcel tax increase for four years. Now, with almost identical promises and threats, they say they need $190 more. It’s too much. Vote No.

Tam Union is already reversing much-touted expense cuts. Of two senior
management positions eliminated, one is being added back. Also being reversed: much of the $ 1 million savings achieved by ending non-classroom “Teacher Leader” payments.
Tam Union’s enrollment begins long-term DECLINE in two years. This should mean fewer teachers and administrators, not more. If Measure B passes, ALL $645 (plus 3% escalators) of Tam Union parcel taxes will be in place for a new TEN-YEAR term.

Yet Tam Union claims enrollment increases are why they need more money.

The truth: Tam Union’s 2020 pension expenses are $5 million higher than they would have been without a 2013 state mandate making local districts pay more for their pension liabilities.

The truth: $5 million annually is what the November 2018 supplemental parcel tax raised.

Moreover, the proposed flat parcel tax is unfair.

Measure B forces a studio condo owner to pay as much as the mall!
Tam Union’s parcel tax should be per building square foot. If uniformly applied to all parcels, that’s fair and legal for school taxes. The proposed Marin County Wildfire Protection Parcel Tax Measure, which the Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers endorsed, is essentially per building square foot

Tam Union has two-plus years on its current parcel taxes to reform spending and propose a fairer tax measure that ensures extra money goes into classrooms.

Help make this happen. VOTE NO.

SUSAN KIRSCH Community Organizer

TAMSEN McCRACKEN Parent of former Redwood student and lawyer

DORSEY McTAGGART Retired official court reporter

MARSHA HALLET Docent Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco

WILLIAM ROSTENBERG Greenbrae resident

PRIMARY ARGUMENT AGAINST MEASURE I (Prepared and Submitted by CO$T)

VOTENOonMEASURE I

At $2.4 billion dollars in new taxes, Measure I is too much for something that does so little. There’s no accountability.

Measure I adds a 30-year extension of Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District’s (SMART) current sales tax, which doesn’t even expire for another nine years.

Measure I gives SMART a blank check with our sales tax dollars until 2059 -allowing it to spend tax revenue on things that don’t improve transportation. SMART lacks transparency and needs better budget oversight.

SMART has had no material impact on 101 traffic in Marin. BUT they’ve made Central Marin traffic much worse.

COSTLY AND INEFFICIENT

• For each round trip on SMART, the subsidy is more than $100. So in addition to the ticket price it costs taxpayers an additional $100 per round trip for each rider.
• More than 42% of SMART’s current sales tax revenue goes to pay interest on its debt.
• Connections to other public transit like Larkspur ferry aren’t synced. Passengers will wait up to 90 minutes for train-ferry connections.

BROKEN PROMISES

• In 2008, SMART promised 70 miles of train track. Eleven years later there are only 45 miles.
• SMART – began rail service over three years behind schedule and massively over budget
• SMART promised Marin voters a 70 mile continuous bike path. A fraction of the path has been built, in non-continuous segments. Current plans for Measure spending doesn’t include ANY bike path money.

POOR MANAGEMENT AND BAD DECISIONS

•SMART will spend $65 million for a three mile Windsor track extension that generates few additional riders.

• SMART didn’t implement 7 of 8 of a Grand Jury report’s recommendations designed to improve the agency’s financial oversight and communication with the public.

Vote NO on Measure I and send a strong message to SMART that they can’t waste any more taxpayer money.

COALITION OF SENSIBLE TAXPAYERS

Mimi Willard, President

CITIZENS FOR SUSTAINABLE PENSION PLANS

Jody Morales, Founder

MIKE ARNOLD PhD, Economist

PAUL PREMO Foreperson Pro Tem, 2012-2013 Marin County Civil Grand Jury

CARSTEN ANDERSEN Former President, Marin Cyclists