CA: 'Success' or 'charade'? SMART tax battle nears election verdict

After a stunning defeat at the ballot in 2020, SMART’s critical sales tax extension, and its future, are again in the hands of Marin and Sonoma voters.

Measure B on the June 2 ballot would renew the quarter-cent sales tax for 30 years. The tax generates about $51 million annually for SMART, equal to more than half of its annual operating budget.

The citizens’ initiative requires a simple majority vote to win, as opposed to a traditional two-thirds threshold. If the measure fails, the existing tax will expire June 30, 2029.

As the tax proposal returns, so have the supporters and critics. Proponents say the train service is on an upward trend and now is the time to invest, while opponents argue the system is a failure and unworthy of another dime.

Supporters say the tax is needed to keep the system from financial collapse; to complete the rail line and path extension to Cloverdale; and to continue the momentum of increasing ridership and reducing Highway 101 traffic.

Suzanne Smith, chair of the SMART initiative committee, called the service a “true success story.” Smith said ridership has increased 95% since 2019, and this year the agency is on track to carry 1.4 million passengers.

The jump in ridership is largely attributed to two pilot programs to let youths and seniors ride free. Youth ridership is up more than 200% and senior ridership has increased by 180%. The programs are set to continue through June 2027.

SMART also has increased the number of train trips from 42 to 48 on weekdays and 16 to 24 on weekends.

Furthermore, fare revenue is projected to be 16% higher this fiscal year than last, and the cost to subsidize the system is continuing to decrease year over year, said Smith, a former executive director of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority.

“This is exactly when investment makes most sense,” Smith said. “SMART has momentum: Ridership is up; revenue is up; efficiency is up; the system is delivering more value today than at any point in its history. Pulling back now would stall progress, waste the gains we worked so hard to achieve and create uncertainty about the longevity of a critical piece of the transportation puzzle.”

Marin and Sonoma voters passed the quarter-cent sales tax in 2008 to fund the construction and operation of a 70-mile passenger rail line between Larkspur and Cloverdale, along with a bicycle and pedestrian path parallel to the railroad.

Today, SMART runs trains between Larkspur and Windsor and has about 40 miles of path. SMART has approved contracts for an extension to Healdsburg, and plans are developing to take the railroad to Cloverdale.

In 2020, a SMART measure for a 30-year extension failed after an expensive and contentious campaign fight. The measure had 54% in favor, but it required two-thirds to pass.

A coalition of SMART supporters announced the initiative campaign last year and began signature collections over the summer. The group filed its petition with a raw count of 71,851 signatures in November.

Opponents argue that the cost to subsidize the service is too high; the agency has failed to deliver on promises to reduce traffic on Highway 101; and its at-grade crossings continue to jam up local streets, specifically in downtown San Rafael. Furthermore, opponents object to measures placed on ballots by citizens’ initiatives, which lower the approval threshold to a simple majority.

“This ‘citizens’ initiative is really just politics-as-usual charade. Who benefits? Not taxpayers,” Mimi Willard, president of the Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers, wrote in the argument against Measure B.

Kingston Cole, a board member of the organization, said, “Taxpayers should not have to pay the price for bad policies and decisions.”

Cole said Measure B is “aspirational,” noting that supporters are focusing on free rides for youth and seniors, performing a civic duty and being proud of it.

“SMART is a show pony, not a workhorse,” he said.

For the fiscal year that ended last June, the per-passenger subsidy was $31.27. That was down 20% from $39.27 in 2024, and down 30% from $44.97 in 2023. According to SMART projections, that subsidy is expected to drop to $28.97 by the end of the fiscal year.

In the rebuttal to the argument in favor of Measure B, Willard called the quarter-cent sales tax, like all sales taxes, regressive.

“In SMART’s case, it’s even more egregious,” she wrote. “Lower-income service workers who need door-to-door transportation must drive instead. They pay the freight but never take the ride. SMART is not even an afterthought in their lives or commute.”

Eddy Cumins, general manager of SMART, disputed the claim that riders are all affluent, saying a survey by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission found that 31% of riders have a household income of less than $60,000 a year. He said the ridership is diverse.

SMART officials said a more accurate measure of cost is the per-passenger-mile subsidy. In the 2024-2025 fiscal year, SMART calculated the subsidy per passenger mile traveled to be $1.50. The subsidy this year is projected to be $1.40. As ridership increases, cost efficiency improves, officials said.

“Others might say that transit should pay for itself, but no major transportation system does: not highways, not bridges, not local roads,” Smith said. “All are publicly supported because they serve a broader purpose: reducing congestion, supporting the economy and connecting communities. SMART is no different and increasingly it’s doing that job more efficiently than ever.”

Mike Arnold, a Novato economist who was the treasurer for the campaign against the 2020 tax renewal, said it’s not a question of whether there should be a subsidy.

“The question is the size of the subsidy,” he said.

“It has been the No. 1 defect of the train,” Arnold said. “Look at all the riders who are riding for free, 43% of the riders. How long are they going to continue to do that?”

Arnold said sales taxes are sensitive to recessions, and the moment one hits, SMART’s revenue will take a blow. He said the free rides to spur ridership are expensive and unsustainable.

Joanne Webster, president and chief executive officer of the North Bay Leadership Council, and a Yes on B campaign committee member, said the free rides program is an investment because “it’s an economic driver.”

The SMART board voted in March to extend the free rides program through June 2027 because it is increasing its ridership both by free and paying passengers. When the program launched, fare revenue was about $2.2 million. The agency expected fare revenue to go down 16%, but it actually went up 16%, to $2.54 million, staff said.

After the vote, Sonoma County Supervisor Chris Coursey, chair of the SMART board, said the program lowers barriers for senior riders while “training the next generation of users for when they become paying adults.”

“I think it’s a good investment,” Coursey said.

Arnold said that because the rail system serves suburban communities, it will never reach the ridership potential that would be worth subsidizing.

“There isn’t a single within-suburban train system in the country that reduces congestion during the peak hours,” Arnold said. “This one has no ability to and it never will.”

Smith said the idea that Marin and Sonoma counties should not have rail transit because they are not as big as metropolitan areas like San Francisco is flawed.

“We absolutely should fight for every dime in order to deliver services up here,” Smith said. “That’s the responsibility of the public sector and advocates to the community, is to provide services.”

© 2026 The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.). Visit www.marinij.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.