Measure P 11/03/26

Impartial analysis by County Counsel of Measure P

COUNTY OF MARIN
MEASURE P

This Measure was placed on the ballot following submission of a voter initiative petition containing the number of signatures required by law.

Because Measure P was placed on the ballot through the initiative process, it will be adopted if approved by a majority of the votes cast in this election. If it is adopted, the County of Marin will levy a parcel tax beginning the first full fiscal year after the effective date. The Measure will remain in effect for fifteen years from the beginning of the parcel tax. The initial rate of the parcel tax shall be $0.05 per square foot of structural improvements, with no more than 100,000 square feet per parcel subject to the tax. “Structural improvements” is defined as the square footage of building floor area on a parcel. Beginning with the second fiscal year in which the tax is in effect, the Board of Supervisors may annually adjust the tax in accordance with the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward area. The County of Marin estimates revenue from this Measure will average approximately $12,500,000 annually.

The revenue raised by this parcel tax must be placed in a special account and can only be used for the purposes stated in this Measure. The stated purposes for the funds raised by this special tax include increasing access to child care, preschool and early education services to benefit low- and middle-income children and families of Marin County; improving wages for child-care providers who provide those services; developing, maintaining, upgrading, and expanding early-care and education facilities; and administrative expenses up to 5% of annual Fund proceeds. The Measure restricts the use of tax proceeds to replace certain existing funding for child care and early education.

Responsibility for developing, administering, and overseeing the programs and services paid for by the parcel tax revenue will belong to the Marin County Children and Families Commission (“Commission”), a nine-member commission whose members the Board of Supervisors appoints. The Commission will develop a five-year program plan and budget, and allocate the funds from the parcel tax, which the Board of Supervisors must appropriate annually.

Measure P additionally creates an eleven-member Advisory Council to develop recommendations for the Commission regarding the five-year plan, annual expenditures, and implementation of the Measure. The Board of Supervisors will appoint the Advisory Council members. Measure P requires the Marin County Board of Supervisors to provide for an annual independent financial audit of the parcel tax fund, which the Advisory Council must review.

The Commission will evaluate the effectiveness of the five-year plan and provide staff support for the Advisory Council, and may contract with other entities and consult with outside experts in administering the Measure.

Dated: 8/24/26

s/BRIAN E. WASHINGTON
County Counsel

Argument in favor of Measure P

A child’s earliest years are among the most important for brain development. The experiences children have during this critical period help shape how they learn, grow, communicate, and can determine whether they succeed in school and throughout life.

But in Marin, too many families cannot find or afford quality early childhood education. 52% of Marin children ages 0–12 with working parents lack access to licensed preschool. Long waiting lists and high costs force parents to reduce their work hours, turn down opportunities, or leave the workforce altogether.

Voting YES on Measure P is an investment in our children — and in Marin’s economic future.

Measure P will make high-quality early childhood education more affordable, create more child care spaces, and help attract and retain qualified child care educators. That means more children will have access to safe, high-quality early learning experiences that are essential for healthy development and kindergarten readiness.

It also means more parents can work.

Reliable child care helps local businesses recruit and retain employees, strengthens household economic security, and supports a workforce that keeps Marin’s businesses, schools, health care system, and senior communities running. Investing in children early pays dividends across our community for years to come.

Every dollar stays in Marin County, with annual independent audits, public reporting, regular evaluations, and strict limits on administrative costs.

That is why Measure P is supported by early childhood educators, elementary school teachers, the League of Women Voters, Congressman Jared Huffman, Senator Mike McGuire, Assemblymember Damon Connolly, all five Marin County Supervisors, the Marin County Democratic Party, and the North Bay Leadership Council.

For healthier children, thriving families, and a stronger local economy, vote YES on Measure P.

Learn more at OurKidsMarin.org

Nelson Bronco, MD, FAAP Pediatrician

Patty Garbarino, Business Leader

Matt Willis, Public Health Physician

Mary Jane Burke, Marin County Superintendent Emerita

League of Women Voters of Marin County, Becky Bingea, President

Rebuttal to argument in favor of Measure P

Measure P “It’s Not Ready for Prime Time”

• Dick Spotswood, Marin IJ Opinion columnist, 8/23/26

Despite its “mom and apple pie” promises, Measure P fails to help Marin residents.

In fact, it isn’t designed to solve the childcare affordability crisis in Marin. The only stated goal of Measure P that’s measurable is to give carers income “parity” with TK-12 public school teachers. This will increase childcare costs at licensed preschools while driving more parents to leave their kids with unlicensed providers. A few families at undefined middle to low-income levels may benefit from subsidies but there are no guarantees.

Measure P is carefully written to avoid a Marin residency requirement. That means people outside of Marin will benefit from the tax yet Marin property owners will pay for it. Voters shouldn’t be tricked into believing that the money will only benefit Marin families.

This new childcare tax is a mandatory cost imposed on hard working Marin families already struggling with their own high childcare costs. The extra burden is even more objectionable because these families will subsidize out-of-county families.

Supporters say reliable childcare helps local businesses “recruit and retain employees.” But if childcare is a necessary employee benefit, employers should foot the bill or compensate their employees enough to cover it.

With over half of its reported $778,305 campaign donations coming from outsiders - Washington D.C, Sonoma, Berkeley, and Los Altos - Measure P is using Marin to test voter support for another blank check tax dressed up as a targeted solution.

REJECT Measure P.

TIEF GIBBS

LUCY DILWORTH
Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers Director and former Marin County Civil Grand Jury foreperson

MARGARITA COLIN
Marin County Resident

MARK GALPERIN
Marin County Resident

AMANDA BEYER
Marin County resident

Argument against Measure P

VOTE NO ON THE CHILD CARE PARCEL TAX

This measure locks Marin taxpayers into a new 15-year tax with no defined spending rules, no defined eligibility, and no way to judge results.

The tax ordinance proposes three uses for the $12.5 million raised annually - scholarships, worker wage increases, facility development - but sets no required split. Scholarships only "may" be funded; facilities only "as needed." Wage increases alone get a named target: parity with public transitional kindergarten-through-twelfth grade teacher salaries, a goal that could absorb most of the fund.

Eligibility is vague. No income threshold defines "low- and middle-income." Marin residency isn’t required for families, children or workers to benefit. Nothing stops tax dollars from subsidizing a childcare slot or wage increase for someone who lives outside Marin.

Measure P might assist some low- and middle-income families on the benefit side, but offers no similar assistance to taxpayers. There are no exemptions for lower-income homeowners or seniors.

Most well-designed tax measures run 8 -10 years; this lets voters judge results when asked to renew. This one runs 15, with no written performance standards in the ordinance - no target number of scholarships, no wage benchmark or date attached to the TK-12 parity goal, no outcome metrics whatsoever - so no way to know if it will work.

Worse, once passed, spending rules will be written by a commission of unelected appointees, so voters can't hold decision makers accountable. And this measure uses the citizen-initiative process requiring only a simple-majority vote, bypassing the two-thirds vote California requires for special taxes.

Fifteen years funding a program that voters can't measure, run by an unelected commission, is too much to ask - especially when there's no guarantee that a single dollar reduces what any Marin family pays for childcare.

VOTE NO.

SUSAN MORELOCK

JOHN TURNACLIFF

AMANDA BEYER

FRANCIS DROULLIARD

TIEF GIBBS

Rebuttal to argument against Measure P

The argument against Measure P was signed by some of Marin’s most MAGA extremists. Like their MAGA counterparts across the country, they rely on half-truths (at best) in their attempt to undermine this common-sense local solution for Marin families.

Here are the facts:

Measure P includes strong fiscal safeguards. Every dollar must stay in Marin County and be used for early childhood education and childcare. Administrative costs are strictly limited. All expenditures must be approved by the Marin County Board of Supervisors and annual independent audits, public reporting, regular evaluations, and community oversight will ensure taxpayers can see where the money goes and whether it is working.

And the need is urgent.

Marin families face crushing childcare costs, and too few spaces are available. Parents are forced to cut work hours or leave jobs because they cannot find reliable, affordable care. Childcare educators, the people we trust during the most important years of brain development, are leaving the profession because they cannot afford to live and work here. Local employers struggle to recruit and retain workers when employees cannot find quality, affordable preschool.

Measure P tackles all three problems: making care more affordable for families, expanding the number of childcare spaces, and strengthening the early educator workforce.

That is a smart investment in children, working families, local businesses, and Marin’s future.

This is not a partisan issue. Don’t let misleading claims stand in the way of a solution our children, families and entire community urgently needs.

Vote YES on Measure P.

OurKidsMarin.org

JARED HUFFMAN
U.S. Congressman

JOANNE WEBSTER
Business Leader

HEIDI TOMSKY
Executive Director, Fairfax- San Anselmo Children’s Center

CURTIS ROBINSON, MD
Marin County School Board President

PAT JOHNSTONE
Chair, Marin County Democratic Party DCCM