This June, residents of Stinson Beach and Bolinas will vote on a parcel tax to fund a range of needs in the Bolinas-Stinson Union School District. The special election, scheduled for June 4, will feature a proposal to levy a special tax of $300 per parcel for five years, beginning July 1, 2020. It includes an escalator of 3 percent each year.
The funds from the tax would be used for art, music, Spanish and physical education programs; maintaining class size; basic instructional materials; educational equipment and the operation; and maintenance of school facilities. The Bolinas-Stinson Union School District board voted 3-1 on Tuesday night to put the measure on the summer ballot, following an hours-long discussion about classroom configuration and the need for more staff amidst a roughly $200,000 district deficit.
District superintendent John Carroll said it was important to place the proposal on the ballot in June, in part because if the measure didn’t succeed, “we could get a second bite of the apple in the fall. The parcel tax is like 12 percent of the budget—that would be devastating if it didn’t pass.”
Board member Steve Marcotte emphasized the importance of balancing what the school needs with what the community is willing to support. The state constitution authorizes school districts to levy a special tax to raise funds contingent upon a two-thirds approval by voters. The Bolinas-Stinson district is a basic aid district, meaning it receives money from property taxes and can hold onto extra funds generated by property taxes from year to year. Still, the school’s needs are outpacing its revenue. Its largest expenditures are for staff, including health benefits and pensions.
The district has had a parcel tax since 1988. The most recent parcel tax passed with nearly 69 percent of the vote in 2013. It expires June 30, 2020. In 2014, a bond measure that would have generated $9 million in additional funds for the school failed to pass, a defeat Mr. Carroll attributed to the measure’s overly broad language.
Jennie Pfeiffer was the only board member to vote against the proposal on Tuesday. “A lot of people in Bolinas are hanging on by their fingernails because of the prices of houses,” she said, noting that those prices also get passed on to renters. In particular, Ms. Pfeiffer expressed concern about the escalator and the likelihood that it would turn off potential voters.
Earlier in the meeting, the board had voted against relieving a Stinson Beach family of a second parcel tax assessment for a parcel the family argued was comprised of sand dunes and held no value.
The proposed tax does contain an exemption for those parcel owners who will turn 65 before May 1. Ben Lowrance, a school bus driver and the classified staff’s union representative, suggested the district put a parcel tax specifically on second homes, but Mr. Carroll said similar targeted approaches had been struck down before in the courts.
Mr. Carroll said the escalator’s 3 percent figure was in keeping with most other districts in the area; the district estimates it would bring in an additional $16,000 for the school over five years. Noting the rising costs of expenditures like staff dental insurance, Mr. Marcotte said he believed an escalator was necessary, and that the district will lose money without one.
There was concern about the disconnect between the reality of the school’s finances and its perception with residents in the community. Georgia Woods, another trustee, said the board needed to do a better job communicating the school district’s needs to the larger community. “They think we’re so flush with cash, and we can’t even provide Spanish programs for students,” she said.