Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit sale-tax extension Measure I fails
Amid campaign funding not seen for such contests locally, the ballot bid for an early 30-year extension of the sales tax that funds the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit line, 2½ years in operation, was defeated in the two counties.
Measure I had garnered 51.2% of the vote in Marin and Sonoma counties in favor and 48.8% opposed with all 683 precincts reporting Wednesday morning. That's 16 percentage points short of the two-thirds needed to renew the quarter-cent tax for SMART through 2059. Interestingly, Marin voters, who had rejected the the tax on its first attempts over a decade ago, backed the renewal more than Sonoma voters, 53.5% to 49.9%.
It's been called the most expensive ballot measure campaign in North Bay history, reaching nearly $3 million spent by supporters and opponents on mailed flyers and advertising on television, radio and the internet, according to The Press Democrat.
“The future of rail in the North Bay now depends on whether or not the SMART board listens to the message voters have just sent them,” Mike Arnold of the NotSoSMART opposition campaign told the Marin Independent Journal. “The (SMART) board needs to step up and clean house and find a new management team that can provide leadership that voters can trust.”
Eric Lucan, chairman of the SMART board of directors, told the publication that if Measure I fails at the polls then the overseers of the transit agency would seek community input on “tough decisions” on how to fill the budget hole.
If Measure I does fail, SMART would look to cut about $9 million from its budget, transit officials told the agency board at their mid-February meeting, according to The Press Democrat. The district employs over 100 full time to run the 38 trains daily, and the agency recently beefed up its workforce ahead of adding additional runs and open stations at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal and in downtown Novato in the past few months.
Seeking an extension of the quarter-cent sales tax for the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit line before that funding conduit expires in 2029 was necessary for the agency to stay on track toward extensions of the line north to Healdsburg then Cloverdale and bike-path projects along the route, according to the Marin IJ. It also would allow to refinance bonds when they mature in 2022, saving the district $12 million a year. Voters in the two counties approved the tax in 2008 with a 70% vote, and regular train service started in August 2017.
