Supporters of SMART’s push to seek an early extension of its sales-tax funding at the ballot box in March, nearly a decade before its current measure expires, have begun to assemble their campaign team as the rail agency contends with fallout over the recent pair of pedestrian deaths on the tracks in Rohnert Park.
Elected representatives in Sonoma and Marin counties are expected to serve in key roles in the campaign. David Rabbitt, chairman of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, and Novato Mayor Eric Lucan, both of whom are on the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit board, said they will join the effort. Cynthia Murray, a former Marin County supervisor who served as chairwoman of SMART’s successful 2008 sales-tax campaign, confirmed she’ll also be involved, but not as the campaign’s leader.
The pieces are coming together before the 12-member SMART board decides whether it will follow through on a recommendation by agency staff to seek an extension of the quarter-cent tax next spring. Measure Q, which received 70% of the vote in 2008, sunsets in 2029. A successful measure could extend the sales tax to at least 2049.
SMART officials want to extend the public funding window in the near future in order to begin restructuring escalating debt costs, which are at $17 million and rising. Trains operating on the 43-mile line running from northern Santa Rosa to San Rafael have served nearly 1.3 million riders since SMART’s launch in August 2017.
San Rafael Mayor Gary Phillips, SMART’s board chairman, said he expects that the board will adopt the sales-tax extension measure for the ballot in March.
“The thought at this point is not to increase the sales-tax percentage, but extend it another, say, 20 years, but that’s not been decided either,” he said. “That’s basically still where we’re at.”
But a pair of deaths on back-to-back days in late June at the same train crossing in Rohnert Park has cast a cloud over the commuter rail agency at the very time its public image needs to shine brightest to earn voters’ support. In the 22 months since trains began service, six people on foot or bike have been killed on the tracks, including two deaths that were ruled suicides.
Supporters of SMART say they intend to focus on explaining the efforts made to address safety issues while touting the wider benefits of the train system for Sonoma and Marin County .