County Ballot Measures Update

San Mateo County voters appear to have narrowly approved a new tax on car rental businesses in the county and a handful of measures benefiting school districts, according to the most recent results from the June 5 election.

Today's update was the last before the Elections Division conducts a manual audit that is open to the public on Friday. Measure T, which could bring the county an estimated $7.8 million annually by imposing a 2.5 percent tax on car rental agencies in unincorporated areas, appears to have barely passed with 50.1 percent support, Chief Deputy Elections Officer David Tom said.

Measures U and X, which would have raised the transient occupancy tax by 2 percent and imposed a new tax on parking facilities, appear to have failed, both garnering only 47 percent support.

All three measures required a majority vote to pass. Two parcel tax measures benefiting local school districts also appeared to have been approved. Both required two-thirds approval, or 66.7 percent of the vote, to pass.

Measure W, which will levy a $67 parcel tax on properties in the Redwood City School District, earned 69.2 percent support, according to today's results.

Measure Y, a $48 parcel tax on properties in the Jefferson Union High School District, was just above the threshold it needed late today, with semi-official results showing the measure with 67.3 percent support.

An $81 million bond measure to benefit the Cabrillo Unified School District -- Measure S -- also appeared to have passed, with 56.5 percent voting to support it.

The measure needed 55 percent approval to pass. After Friday's manual audit, the election results will be submitted to the state for certification in one to two weeks.

CONTACT: San Mateo County Elections Division (650) 312-5222

--Bay City News Service