Transportation Sales Tax Measure Fails by Tiny Margin

Bay City News Service—Nearly two weeks after the November election, Measure B1 has missed the required two-thirds passage by several hundred votes, or about 0.14 percent, the Alameda County Registrar of Voters announced Monday.

The measure, which would have raised Alameda County's transportation sales tax to a full 1 cent, garnered 350,899 votes, or 66.53 percent, short of two-thirds of the 527,403 people who cast ballots on Nov. 6, county officials reported.

The tally of votes in the race for Measure B1 was so close on Election Day and after an updated count last Tuesday that the registrar could not say whether it passed or not until now.

Measure B1 would have increased the county's transportation sales tax, first passed in 1986, from a half-cent to one cent and would have made the hike permanent. The money raised by the measure would have been spent on roads, freeways, pedestrian, bicycle and other transit-related projects.

But opponents of Measure B1 said the tax increase was too steep and would have disproportionately impacted working people because a higher percentage of their incomes go to sales taxes.

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