10/5/26, 3:45 PM Inbox - Lindsay Lara - Outlook
Outlook
For The Public Record - Consent Calendar Item 2.c: Real Property Transfer Tax Budget Planning From [email protected]
Date Mon 10/5/2026 3:43 PM
To Lindsay Lara < [email protected]>; Distrib City Clerk < [email protected]>
FOR THE PUBLIC RECORD
Consent Calendar Item 2.c: Real Property Transfer Tax Budget Planning Good evening, Mayor and Members of the City Council. My name is Ken Dickinson, and I live in Rafael Meadows.
1 am formally requesting that Consent Calendar Item 2.c—the Real Property Transfer Tax budget planning resolution-be pulled from the consent calendar and opened for public debate.
This resolution asks you to pre-program the allocation of roughly $6 million a year in potential revenue from a tax measure that the voters haven't even decided on yet. That is a classic case of counting your chickens before they are hatched and it deeply fuels community frustration regarding San Rafael's relentless taxing treadmill.
Worse still, the city chose to structure this as a general tax specifically to capture a simple 50% majority threshold, rather than clearing the two-thirds bar required for true special taxes. While the staff report and resolution heavily market popular items like road repairs and public safety to make the tax palatable, as a general fund tax, future councils are not legally bound to spend it that way.
Pre-budgeting the proceeds before election day sends a message to taxpayers that the outcome is treated as a foregone conclusion, bypassing real accountability. Please pull this item from consent so the council and the public can have a transparent, honest debate about this tax strategy. Thank you.
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