Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
San Mateo council backs education and outreach on quarter-cent sales tax after feasibility poll
Summary
City staff and polling firm True North Research told the City Council that a quarter-cent general sales tax shows a viable path to passage while a $323 million bond lacks sufficient support; council members directed staff to begin education and outreach and return with draft language and follow-up polling.
San Mateo City Council members on Jan. 12 directed staff to begin education and outreach for a quarter-cent general sales tax measure for the November 2026 ballot after hearing results of a voter-feasibility survey conducted by True North Research.
"Based on these polling results, we do not see that a bond is feasible," Timothy McClarny, president of True North Research, told the council after presenting the firm's findings. McClarny said an initial ballot test showed 59% support for a $323,000,000 general obligation bond but noted the bond requires two-thirds support to pass. By contrast, the same initial testing showed about 53% support for a quarter-cent general sales tax, a level McClarny said is above the simple-majority threshold required for passage.
The presentation described the study's methods and scale: True North reported completing about 1,012 interviews with a stratified, clustered random sample of likely November voters in…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
