6–11%
Farebox recovery
Riders cover less than a tenth of operating costs. You cover the rest — forever if Measure B passes.
Ballots are out — vote by
STOP THE
BLANK CHECK
TO 2059
SMART’s Measure B campaign wants $51 million a year locked in for decades — while you pick up the tab for elite commutes, Wall Street debt, and a diesel line that can’t cover its own operating costs.
Stop the bailout — protect your wallet. They lost in 2020. So they changed the rules.
- Tax lock-in
- 2059
- Annual haul
- $51M
- Your household
- $8,370
30 more years — locked in early, before the current tax expires in 2029.
Every year — while accountability vaporizes.
Estimated 30-year cost per household — for their mistakes.
THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE — THEY DO
National Transit Database filings and SMART’s own fiscal reality: this isn’t “climate transit.” It’s a permanent subsidy machine dressed in green paint.
UP TO
$196
Taxpayer subsidy per boarding
Documented range from about $39.27 to $196.39 per passenger trip — working families financing a boutique commute service.
$47.4M
2020 “Green Bond” debt jump
Long-term debt increased by tens of millions. Now they want voters to rubber-stamp the bailout.
$51M/yr
Until 2059
That’s the scale of the sales-tax haul SMART wants cemented — not “maintenance,” dependency.
FOUR PILLARS OF NO
Read it once. Read it on your ballot. Then vote NO on Measure B.
01
Blank check to 2059
The existing 0.25% sales tax doesn’t expire until 2029 — yet they’re demanding a 30-year extension now. That’s arrogance: lock the money before they’ve earned back public trust.
Tagline: Stop the blank check NOW.
02
The $47.4M debt deception
SMART’s 2020 Green Bond refinancing increased long-term debt by $47.4 million. Measure B isn’t “planning for the future” — it’s a desperate balance-sheet rescue on the backs of shoppers and renters.
Follow the bonds. Follow the money.
03
Subversion of taxpayer protections
In 2020, Measure I — the same early extension scheme — failed the two-thirds supermajority at roughly 54% Yes. Sacramento and the initiative loophole dropped the bar to 50% + 1. They didn’t persuade more people. They rewired the rules.
They lost in 2020 — so they changed the rules.
04
Regressive tax + diesel greenwashing
Sales taxes hammer working families hardest. Meanwhile SMART runs heavy diesel commuter trains — not a zero-emission future — and asks you to subsidize elite North Bay corridors at $39–$196 per ride while farebox recovery sits at 6–11%.
Your groceries. Their optics.
FINANCIAL INDICTMENT
Simple visuals for neighborhood group chats — screenshot and send.
Where your money goes
Taxpayer subsidy per ride (high)~$196
Fares paid by riders (farebox ~6–11%)6–11%
Illustrative bar: subsidy burden dominates system economics — riders pay crumbs; the public pays the crown jewels.
2020 Green Bond bailout math
- ▸ +$47.4 million long-term debt increase tied to the refinancing — reflected in SMART’s public bond and financial disclosures.
- ▸ $51,000,000/year in sales tax if they cement the extension — a pipeline to Wall Street and operating bloat.
- ▸ ~$8,370 estimated hit per household over 30 years — sales taxes don’t ask for your W-2; they just take.
Trains were promised for 2008; passenger service slipped to 2017. The pathway pledge? Still a patchwork promise machine. No more blank checks.
THEY CHANGED THE RULES
How Measure B ended up on your ballot.
-
Measure I fails supermajority
Voters said “yes” at roughly 54% — a landslide in politics, a failure under Prop 13’s two-thirds rule for agency special taxes. The extension was rejected under the law that actually protected taxpayers.
-
Loophole engineering
Instead of fixing SMART, promoters shifted to a voter “initiative” path so a sales-tax extension could pass at 50% + 1. State legislation like SB 904 (Dodd) helped clear the way in Sacramento. They didn’t change minds — they changed the vote threshold.
-
Measure B — same wallet raid, lower bar
Now it’s labeled “citizen-led,” but the money behind it flows to the same political elites, unions, and corporate interests who benefit from the status quo. Vote NO and demand accountability before 2029 — not another generation on autopilot.
DIESEL GREENWASH
What they want you to feel
Sunset graphics. “Climate.” “Modern rail.” A politician in a hard hat nodding next to a train.
What the system actually is
Diesel commuter trains. Massive operating subsidies. $51 million per year in sales tax propping up a legacy mode while working people are asked to pretend it’s the future.
Pragmatic environmentalists vote NO: spend money where it moves the most riders per dollar and cuts real tons — not where consultants and boards want immunity.
VOTE NO NOW
Find Measure B on your ballot. Mark NO. Mail it back immediately. Don’t let “urgent transit” panic override math.
NO on B
Read the ballot language carefully — “temporary” is a lie when the horizon is 2059.