Related
The fight to keep Caltrain running has turned into a political battle between San Francisco, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
A relatively straightforward sales tax measure is now being tied to a confrontational and complex effort to change the way the transit system is run.
All three counties and four separate transit agencies need to sign off on a 1/8 of a cent sales tax measure before it can be added to the November ballot. Top Caltrain employees said the agency is in such a financially-perilous situation that it may need to shut down entirely if the measure does not pass.
But San Francisco and Santa Clara County officials now believe in order to justify raising taxes on their residents, they want more of a say in how the system is run.
"The arrangement that has been set up has San Mateo really take an outsized role in running the system," said San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney. "Despite the fact that the large majority of the revenue that would go to Caltrain, and goes to Caltrain currently, is coming from Santa Clara County and San Francisco county, the system itself is largely run by - and certainly the CEO and the staff are run by - San Mateo."
The two counties have introduced a proposal that would tie the sales tax to a change in governance.
"In order to have $56 million from our county be part of this process, I think it’s really important that governance be resolved," said Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez.
San Mateo County officials are pushing back.
Supervisor Dave Pine has said he is not sure the new proposal is legally sound and argues it could kill the sales tax measure, and therefore Caltrain.
"San Francisco and Santa Clara County are using this as an opportunity to take some of those funds that would be dedicated for Caltrain operations and use those funds for their local transit systems," said state Senator Jerry Hill of San Mateo, who calls the move a power grab.
"The funds that would be collected from the sales tax would go to the respective counties and then those counties would give to Caltrain the amount necessary for the operations," he explained. "But the money would be with the counties. And to me, that is pure and simple greed."
Caltrain ridership has dropped by 95% during the pandemic and the issue must be resolved soon in order to make it onto the November ballot for voter approval.