Caltrain tax measure will be on the ballot

Voters in three Bay Area counties will decide its fate

SANFRANCISCO>> The San Francisco Board of Supervisors vote Friday made it official: Voters in three Bay Area counties will consider a Caltrain tax measure on the November ballot in efforts to save the railway.

The railroad’s board on Thursday voted to place the regional tax measure on the November ballot, along with the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority on Thursday, and San Francisco supervisors late Friday afternoon. The deadline to place a measure on the November ballot was the end of the day Friday.

“What a long, strange trip it’s been,” said San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin during Friday’s board meeting.

If approved by voters, the tax measure would generate an estimated $108 million per year for Caltrain by increasing sales taxes by one-eighth of a cent in San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. It will need a twothirds majority across the three counties to pass.

Without the funding, officials predict that the railroad might have to cut its service, or even temporarily shut down. That could push commuters throughout the region into cars and create a potential traffic nightmare.

“Even though it’s been a tumultuous fight … we will be making history if we can get the twothirds passed,” said San Francisco Supervisor Shamann Wal

ton. “It will be the first ever dedicated funding source for Caltrain.”

At the start of the week, it didn’t appear the measure would get approved. Several of the separate agencies and county governing boards that needed to sign off on the ballot measure initially did not all support the proposal because of Caltrain’s management.

But by Tuesday, they agreed to approve the measure after Caltrain pledged to make changes to its structure that will make it more independent from San Mateo County’s transportation agency, SamTrans.

That set up a flurry of last-minute votes this week to secure the tax’s place on the ballot. Other agencies such as San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, SamTrans, Santa Clara County’s Board of Supervisors, Santa Clara’s Valley Transportation Authority and even San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency all approved the measure.