Overview
- Early returns Tuesday showed roughly 70–72% of Sonoma and Marin voters supporting Measure B, with final tallies still being completed and officials treating the result as a mandate for continued local funding.
- Measure B would extend the existing quarter‑cent local sales tax for 30 years and is projected to raise about $51 million a year for the Sonoma‑Marin Area Rail Transit system and its parallel bicycle‑pedestrian pathway.
- The measure qualified for the ballot after organizers submitted more than 71,000 signatures, so it needed only a simple majority to pass rather than the two‑thirds approval required by the earlier 2019 effort that failed.
- SMART officials point to a ridership rebound to more than 1 million riders last year and a 19% service increase this year as the main reasons the district needs stable local revenue to sustain service and attract matching grants.
- Opponents criticized heavy campaign spending and questioned fiscal priorities, and next steps include final vote certification, SMART board planning for operations and maintenance spending, and coordination with regional transit funding efforts.