CA: SMART proposes $101.5M budget for next fiscal year

Even with its financial future at stake in the June election, SMART has its eye on growth with a draft $101.5 million budget for next fiscal year.

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit receives more than half of its operations revenue from a quarter-cent sales tax that voters in the two counties approved in 2008. That tax revenue is projected to increase 4% to $50.4 million in the 2026-2027 fiscal year compared to this fiscal year, which ends June 30.

The tax expires in June 2029. Measure B on the June 2 ballot would renew the tax for 30 years. It requires a simple majority to pass, and failing to do so would present financial uncertainty for the agency.

“Measure Q was passed by voters in 2008 for us to do this work for 20 years, and we’re going to keep doing it until we can’t anymore,” said Sonoma County Supervisor Chris Coursey, the chair of the SMART board.

Coursey said the agency has been focused on growth since the rail service began in 2017.

“We have built a system that has not reached its full potential yet, and we made a promise to voters, and that’s what we intend to deliver,” Coursey said.

Marin County Supervisor Mary Sackett, vice chair of the SMART board, agreed.

“I think it would be premature to cut back on expenditures,” she said. “Voters passed the funding for us to utilize through the life of this measure. This budget is really just looking at next year. If the measure doesn’t pass, then we will have to look at our operations and what happens in the coming years.”

The vision for SMART is a 70-mile passenger rail line between Larkspur and Cloverdale, along with a bicycle and pedestrian path parallel to the tracks.

Today, the agency runs trains between Larkspur and Windsor and has about 40 miles of path. SMART has approved a contract of nearly $22 million for an extension to Healdsburg, and plans are developing to take the railroad to Cloverdale.

SMART’s draft budget includes $91.7 million in revenues and $101.5 million in expenditures. The district is drawing about $9 million from its unassigned fund to make up the difference. That leaves a $48.4 million balance in the unassigned fund.

Last June, the board approved a $89.6 million budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year that was later adjusted to $105.8 million to account for new spending. That included the Healdsburg expansion project and new hires and operations to support expanded service hours under a plan called the Marin-Sonoma Coordinated Transit Service, or MASCOTS. The agency increased the number of train trips from 42 to 48 on weekdays and 16 to 24 on weekends.

The agency is budgeting nearly $34 million in salaries and benefits for the upcoming fiscal year, about $2.3 million more than the current year. Some of that is due to new staffing levels, including seven new hires, to address the expanded service hours. To support the expense, the agency is receiving a total of more than $1.6 million from local and state funds.

Eddy Cumins, general manager of SMART, said the longer service window appears to be boosting ridership.

“April was an all-time monthly record ridership for us,” Cumins said at a budget workshop last week. “With the MASCOTS schedule, ridership has gone through the roof.”

SMART recorded 133,860 riders for the month, a 30% increase over April 2025.

A program of free fares for youths and seniors has pushed ridership numbers up. The program is continuing at least until the end of the fiscal year.

Cumins said trains are expected to carry more than 1.4 million passengers during the fiscal year, 25% higher than last year and almost double the pre-pandemic ridership numbers.

The draft budget includes nearly $17 million in debt service. It also has more than $20 million for services and supplies, a 4% increase tied to the expanded train service hours.

When it comes to projects, a big focus of the draft spending plan is on “state of good repair” projects, which include more than $10 million for maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement. The project list includes new signals, train control systems, engine replacements and new onboard cameras.

The draft plan includes $13.2 million in capital improvements, including $10 million toward engineering for the Healdsburg extension project; $859,000 for path projects, including construction of the Joe Rodota Trail segment in Santa Rosa; and planning a path from Guerneville Road to Airport Boulevard in Santa Rosa and a path from Hanna Ranch Road to Vintage Way in Novato.

The budget for administration and operations capital projects is $2.5 million.

The budget also includes more than $7 million for pension and liability reserves; $13.3 million in vehicle and equipment reserves; $5.5 million in capital reserves; and $13.1 million in operating reserves.

In addition to the $50.4 million in sales tax revenue, the draft accounts for $11.1 million in federal funds and more than $22 million from the state. The agency is expecting nearly $500,000 in regional funding and $7.1 million from other sources, the draft budget says.

The proposed freight budget, which is not funded by the sales tax revenue, is balanced at $2.8 million.

Staff plan to present the draft budget to the board of directors at its meeting on Wednesday. Meeting information will be posted at sonomamarintrain.org.

Officials are accepting comment on the draft plan through May 29. The final budget is expected to be presented to the board for approval at its meeting June 17.

The draft budget is available at bit.ly/3P6KrcB.

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