The Stronger Muni For All marketing campaign introduced Tuesday that it had submitted sufficient legitimate signatures to qualify the parcel tax measure for the November poll.
A Muni prepare departs from the West Portal Station in San Francisco on March 3, 2026. (Tâm Vũ/KQED)
The measure is a high-stakes, last-ditch effort at securing sustainable funding for the Bay Space’s most-ridden public transit company because it confronts a greater than $300 million funds deficit starting in July. Each funding supply that Muni depends on — from tax income, grants and parking charges to Muni fares — has cratered for the reason that pandemic, in keeping with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Company, which runs Muni. SFMTA initiatives the deficit will develop to $430 million by 2030.
If authorised by voters, property house owners could be billed yearly primarily based on their kind of property and sq. footage. Most house owners of single-family properties would want to pay $129 yearly, multifamily property house owners would owe $249 and industrial landlords must shell out $799, with extra tax levied if the properties exceed a sure sq. footage restrict.
About $150 million of the income generated yearly from this tax could be used to scale back Muni’s deficit, and about $10 million would pay for “marginal service high quality enhancements,” in keeping with the SFMTA. The measure would expire in 15 years, and the tax quantity could be yearly adjusted for inflation.
The destiny of Muni, and different main Bay Space transit businesses, additionally rests on the passage of a separate regional gross sales tax measure, known as the Join Bay Space Act. That measure would generate round $1 billion yearly for BART, AC Transit, Caltrain and Muni, in addition to some smaller East Bay transit businesses, by imposing a half-cent gross sales tax in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and a one-cent gross sales tax in San Francisco over 14 years. That marketing campaign mentioned it submitted sufficient signatures to qualify the measure final month and is awaiting validation by county election officers.
If one or each measures fail to go, Muni warned it will be pressured to remove as much as 20 routes, scale back night service as much as 60%, scale back or remove historic cable automobile routes and double wait occasions for some strains.
The SFMTA Board of Administrators unanimously voted Tuesday to undertake suggestions made by an impartial oversight committee meant to extend income and value financial savings on the company. The suggestions are a required a part of SB 63, the state invoice that licensed the regional tax measure.
The SFMTA plans to generate extra income by enhancing fare compliance on Muni autos and growing staffing of parking management officers. The company additionally plans to save cash by reviewing high-spend contracts and right-sizing fleets to match demand, for instance.
These efforts, mixed with the 2 poll measures, will shut the deficit, in keeping with the company.
Max Szabo, a spokesperson for Stronger Muni For All, acknowledged the troublesome local weather through which the marketing campaign was asking voters to tax themselves for the way forward for transit. He mentioned the first concern voters are going through up and down the poll is affordability.
“In the end, we’ve got to make the case that that is one thing that ought to be shouldered by the general public with a purpose to advance our high quality of life and the livability of the area we name house,” Szabo mentioned.
