San Mateo County officers are clashing with the state lawmakers over a proposed regional gross sales tax that may bail out the Bay Space’s distressed transit programs, arguing that their constituents would shoulder an outsized share of the burden and not using a honest say in how the cash is spent.
The controversy has sophisticated negotiations across the invoice, SB 63, which might permit voters to impose a half-cent gross sales tax in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and a full cent in San Francisco. The tax may increase as much as $1 billion yearly over the subsequent 14 years for BART, Caltrain, San Francisco’s Muni and different companies going through steep price range gaps as federal and state aid funds dry up.
A SamTrans bus exits the Millbrae Transit Middle on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Millbrae. San Mateo County officers are clashing with the state lawmakers over a proposed regional gross sales tax that may bail out the Bay Space’s distressed transit programs. (Aric Crabb/Bay Space Information Group)
At situation is San Mateo County’s lack of illustration on BART’s board, which is made up of elected representatives from San Francisco, Alameda County and Contra Costa County. Collectively, the three county’s residents pay some $392 million in gross sales and property taxes towards the system, which make up practically 40% of its complete working income. In the meantime, San Mateo County contributes simply $4 million yearly.
If voters move the measure, San Mateo residents could possibly be on the hook for roughly $35 million a yr, about 10 % of the gross sales tax income earmarked for BART. But with out some form of illustration on the board, Assemblymember Diane Papan and Supervisors Jackie Speier and Ray Mueller say the measure quantities to taxation with out illustration. They’re advocating for amendments to present San Mateo extra leverage, together with the flexibility to withhold funds from BART if county officers imagine they’re being misused.
“When I’m asking my community to dig into their pockets — and this is a very regressive tax — we’re going to get a good deal for the people we’re asking for the money from,” Papan mentioned in a Board of Supervisors assembly final week.
Getting extra leverage over BART is politically fraught. The board consists of labor union allies, who’ve resisted diluting its energy. The board has additionally been accused of resisting oversight previously.
A passenger walks alongside a BART platform on the Millbrae Transit Middle on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Millbrae, Calif. A gaggle of San Mateo County elected officers are elevating a fuss over a proposed regional gross sales tax meant to bail out the Bay Space’s distressed public transportation system. (Aric Crabb/Bay Space Information Group)
With SB 63, the Legislature would create a particular district made up of taking part counties that may be ruled by the Metropolitan Transportation Fee, the Bay Space’s regional planning physique. The gross sales tax could possibly be positioned on the poll both via an motion of the fee or via a professional residents’ initiative. The invoice’s sponsors are hoping to take the latter route, as it will require a easy majority to move, versus a two-thirds vote if positioned on the poll by MTC. Polling has proven that 54% of voters throughout Alameda, Contra Costa and San Mateo would vote sure on such a measure.
The invoice, which has the help of main enterprise teams, is anticipated to move in some type — however San Mateo County’s last-minute wrangling over the invoice may end in much less of the {dollars} generated within the county going towards BART.
Sen. Scott Wiener, who authored the invoice with fellow Democrat Jesse Arreguín, mentioned that some transit advocates have lengthy felt that San Mateo County has not paid sufficient towards the company, which has six stations within the county.
San Mateo County’s lack of illustration inside BART can also be self-inflicted — to be represented, they’d should be part of the BART district, which levies a property tax throughout its member counties. In 1957, San Mateo County opted into the formation of the unique district, however supervisors pulled out in 1962 earlier than building started, citing BART’s redundancy with the deliberate Caltrain line and considerations about increased taxes. They had been additionally below stress from David Bohannon, proprietor of the Hillsdale Procuring Middle, who apprehensive that BART would facilitate simpler entry to retail in San Francisco.
The gross sales tax oversight committee that Papan is pushing for could be a means across the lack of illustration. However transit advocates like Wiener say that giving one county veto energy may undermine the measure’s regional method.
“There are times where one county pays a bit more, but we’re ultimately all integrated as one region,” he mentioned.
Passengers wait to board a practice from the East Bay on the Embarcadero BART station in San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Space Information Group)
Wiener’s invoice, three years within the making, comes because the Bay Space’s transportation companies warn of deep service cuts beginning in 2026 with out new funding. BART anticipates a $378 million shortfall in fiscal yr 2027, whereas Caltrain initiatives a $65 million deficit. Two of Wiener’s earlier proposals to cowl the funding gaps confronted critical pushback: A brand new bridge toll was seen as too expensive to drivers, and a nine-county regional poll measure included a research that would have put the area on a path to consolidating a few of the area’s 27 transit companies, which might have threatened the ability of every company’s particular person board.
Labor teams had argued that the bailout ought to come within the type of a gross receipts tax on Bay Space companies. However enterprise teams mentioned they’d battle such a tax, and lobbied as an alternative for a regional gross sales measure.
As is commonly the case for regional measures, questions of native management have loomed over SB 63. Supervisors Mueller and Speier are weighing whether or not supporting a regional tax may jeopardize their very own future native measures for baby care or hearth safety. They proposed passing their very own countywide measure to fund Caltrain’s deficit.
Commuters are mirrored in a window of a Caltrain on the Diridon Station transportation hub on Monday, March 10, 2025, in San Jose. (Aric Crabb/Bay Space Information Group)
In the meantime, critics of BART’s administration say the board ought to have taken steps to fill its funding hole, like layoffs or renegotiating its contracts with labor, earlier than turning to voters. Since 2019, BART’s working price range has elevated practically 20% to $1.1 billion from $921 million, about the identical tempo as inflation. Its workforce is about the identical dimension because it was in 2019.
“BART has grown their staff and operations and not undertaken any serious fiscal right-sizing that avoids these revenue shortfalls,” mentioned former State Sen. Steve Glazer, an Orinda Democrat who has known as for better oversight of the company. “How can we have confidence in them when they’re saying that the only alternative is to come to taxpayers and ask for more money?”
Initially Printed: September 3, 2025 at 4:20 AM PDT
