Marin City looks at incorporating the community

Marin City leaders are considering a push to incorporate the community.

Despite the name, Marin City is not a city, or a town — it has no mayor or elected council. As an unincorporated community, the county maintain its infrastructure, provides fire and law enforcement services and make key decisions for the community.

The community’s de facto government is the Marin City Community Services District, comprised of five Black directors. Representatives on the Board of Supervisors, which currently govern the community, are White.

If Marin City incorporates itself, it would be the 12th city in the county. Marin City CSD Director Damian Morgan said while it has been tried without success before, the board is seriously looking into the effort.

“This goes beyond just planning and discussion,” Morgan said. “We have a team of lawyers and consultants collecting and analyzing our financial data in the background. They will follow up and see how we would fair as a city.”

Marin City CSD community meeting to discuss the issue is tentatively set for March 23.

In order for the community of about 3,000 people to become a city, the Marin City CSD would have to file an application with the Local Agency Formation Commission, which would conduct a financial analysis.

“Part of that process would be, what exactly as a city would it be offering citizens, where it will be getting its revenue from and if that would be able to cover services it must provide,” LAFCO Executive Officer Jason Fried said.

Fried said it would take about a year to go through the process. But before LAFCO could consider the request, he said the Marin City CSD would need to establish a tax exchange agreement with the county because it would take over some responsibilities — such as infrastructure, fire or law enforcement services.

“So the county says ‘what are you taking away from us and how much is that worth compared to what we currently get for that area?’ So that all needs to get worked out,” he said.

Marin City CSD director Terrie Green said she hopes something can be worked out.

“We are in the process of making sure we have the finances to become a city,” Green said. “We believe we do, but we have to get the county to be transparent and give us back the tax dollars they owe us.”

She said while the value of homes has increased, the Marin City CSD has not seen that increase reflected in its annual revenue, which is determined by the county.

Marin City belongs to two tax rate areas, which contain 14 taxing entities that provide services, according to Mina Martinovich, county assistant finance director.

In 2019-20, these two areas earned about $3.2 million in property taxes.

Marin City CSD received about $275,000 of that money.

She said Marin City leaders have expressed interest in becoming a city in the past.

“On both occasions, the services provided to Marin City were significantly higher than the revenues collected,” Martinovich said. “In 2013, we were spending over $3 million more than what we were collecting in tax revenues.”

Built during World War II, Marin City housed thousands of shipyard workers. After the war, Black workers were barred from buying homes in surrounding communities due to exclusionary housing covenants.

In the 1960s, Golden Gate Village was built to house low-income families. Until the 1970s Marin City’s population was predominantly Black, but as townhomes were added the community diversified ethnically.

White and Black people made up about 38% of the population, Latinos 14% and Asians 11%, according to the 2010 census.

Marin City CSD director Royce McLemore said the population has shifted over the years.

“Black people are not the majority anymore,” McLemore said. “That’s because they couldn’t afford it and moved away, or people started selling out.”

She said if Marin City were to become a city, it might have more say in the fate of Golden Gate Village. The county’s housing authority is looking at a redevelopment plan for the complex of eight high-rise and 22 low-rise buildings by New-Jersey based Michaels Development Co.

An alternative plan proposed by the Golden Gate Village Resident Council calls for the complex to be transferred into a community land trust, provide job training and apprenticeship programs for residents and stagger maintenance and installation of green infrastructure in phases.

District 3 Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters, who represents Marin City, did not respond to a request for comment.