Marin Voters OK Sales Tax Hike for Open Spaces

Grins on the faces of a variety of Marin leaders grew bigger and bigger throughout election night as voters backed a quarter-cent sales tax increase.

Measure A, which will raise approximately $10 million a year for nine years to preserve open space and farmland and repair park facilities, received nearly 74 percent of the vote Tuesday night by 10:50 p.m. The sales tax hike, which needed a two-thirds vote to pass, garnered 60,655 yes votes to 21,757 no votes with 100 percent of the precincts reporting.

The tax required a two-thirds approval to pass. It started with 70 percent of the voters backing the measure when 8 percent of Marin's precincts reporting before the "yes" percentage steadily increased through the night.

Bob Berner, president of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, said the goal was to outperform a May poll where 67 percent of Marin voters said they were in strong support of the measure. Late on Tuesday night, the measure’s performance in the polls had exceeded many of the Measure A supporters' expectations.

More than $200,000 was raised for the Yes on A effort, which Berner called a “great grass roots campaign” at the Measure A party on election night at the McInnis Golf Club in San Rafael. “It was a real broad-based community effort.”

More than 50 people, including Marin County Supervisors Susan Adams, Katie Rice and Steve Kinsey, gathered at the Measure A party.

Linda Dahl, director and general manager of Marin County Parks, said she was relieved to see the measure do so well at the polls. “I didn’t really have a Plan B if this didn’t pass.”

Kinsey said the vote reaffirms Marin’s commitment to agricultural protection and “take care of what we have.”

“This keeps Marin’s legacy in tact as a community that is built on a foundation of environmental protection,” Kinsey said.

Since it started in 1972, the Marin’s parks and open space district was supposed to be fully funded, Rice said.

“It’s an exciting moment for Marin County to realize what generations of folks worked to preserve,” Rice said. 

Tom Boss, Marin County Bicycle Coalition membership director, said the Measure A campaign brought the MCBC together with organizations it had friction with in the past. “We were all able to put our differences aside and work toward a common goal.”

Boss said the funds will help enhance recreational activities and close important gaps for commuters.

Dahl expressed gratitude for all the volunteers who helped put up signs, table events and making phone calls. “I especially love the image of Mike and Sally Gale in Novato waving the Measure A sign from their truck with their two dogs. The whole thing was a heartwarming experience.”

BACKLOG OF REPAIRS

Supporters of the measure say the county has reduced staff, cut hours at park facilities and reduced maintenance, resulting in a backlog of urgent and needed repairs. 

Sixty-five percent of the revenue ($6.5 million) will be used to protect or restore natural resources and maintain county parks and open space preserves. 

Twenty percent ($2 million) will go toward preserving farmland and ranches from development and subdivision, and 15 percent ($1.5 million) will be directed to municipalities and special districts to manage their parks, open space  preserves and recreation programs and reduce wildfire risk.

A small portion of the tax will go toward protecting properties along the Bay from development and to acquire strategic properties as a wildlife corridor, according to Susan Stompe, president of the Marin Conservation League's board of directors. 

Supporters of the measure include the Marin County Parks Department, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Marin Audubon Society, Marin County Bicycle Coalition, Marin Organic and the Marin chapter of the Sierra Club.

The Marin United Taxpayers Association opposed the measure.

The measure was placed on the ballot unanimously by the Marin County Board of Supervisors in August after a lengthy rollout.

-Bay City News contributed to this report

How do you feel about Measure A passing? Tell us in the comments!

Check out other election 2012 articles on Patch:

• Levine Edges Allen in Tight State Assembly Race
• Incumbents Win Marin Healthcare District Seats
• Levine Edges Allen in Tight State Assembly Race
• Barack Obama Re-Elected President
• 'Yes' Votes Prevail on Proposition 30