What would a 7% UUT raise?

Which utility bills does Measure Q cover?

The City’s July ballot description says the proposed 7% UUT applies to gas, electricity and telecommunications. The June KMA household-cost table is broader: it reports electricity, gas, water, phone/mobile and video/streaming/cable/satellite. Its ≈$496/month figure is therefore a broader household utility burden, not a statement that every dollar of that $496 is necessarily taxable under the final ballot measure.

City/KMA June 16, 2026 analysis ↗ · City July 2026 ballot description ↗

Why the assumed utility bill matters

A percentage cannot be evaluated by itself. The same 7% rate applied to a $300 taxable monthly base produces a very different amount of money raised than 7% applied to a $496 monthly base. The same is true when the number of taxable accounts grows.

This is why the CFCAC report's request for clearer money raised modeling matters. Later member comments suggest that at least some participants might have viewed the recommended percentage differently had the household base and long-run money raised been presented differently. The formal report nevertheless remains a 7% recommendation; the website does not rewrite that historical fact.

The Debt page therefore includes a separate 3%-7% what-if analysis. Its purpose is to show the relationship among rate, number of accounts, utility-cost growth and payoff time so readers can see the tradeoff rather than being asked to accept one percentage in isolation.

What interest rate does the calculator use?

Late-August 2026 municipal-market data show 30-year AA-category yields around 4.65% to 4.72%. VoteMarinaCA therefore uses 4.75% as a rounded default planning rate. At that rate, $50 million over 30 years has level annual debt service of about $3,160,473.

Bond Buyer / LSEG MMD ↗ · FMS municipal yields ↗

How the calculator works

The calculator is a transparent what-if model. It starts with public City and Keyser Marston data, then applies a small number of stated assumptions so a voter can see how changing the taxable utility bill or the growth model changes the debt curve.

June 16, 2026 KMA modeling source ↗ · Full source library →

What does 3%, 4%, 5%, 6% or 7% actually mean?

The percentage alone is not enough. What a household pays depends on its taxable utility bill. What the City collects depends on the number and type of residential and commercial accounts. This section therefore uses monthly and annual values and does not convert the tax into a daily charge.

How the City's ≈$3.83M annual estimate is built

The City's estimate is not simply one household number multiplied by the number of homes. KMA's June 2026 model combines utility categories, residential groups and commercial utility use. Table 2C uses 8,254 occupied households, an all-household taxable utility estimate of about $496/month, and a modeled 62% full-rate / 38% reduced group. At 7% with the lower group modeled at 3.5%, residential UUT is about $2.84M/year. Table 4 estimates about $970,000/year from commercial utility use at 7%. Together that is about $3.81M/year, close to the City's current rounded estimate of $3.83M/year.

Conservative fixed-base case

This freezes the 2025 KMA household count, the $496/month household utility base and the $13.894M annual commercial utility base. There is no housing growth and no utility-price growth.

Growing-cost example

This case lets the documented/project-linked housing base grow to buildout and applies the site's utility escalation assumptions by category. Housing stops growing after the modeled developments are built out.

June 16, 2026 KMA analysis ↗ · Current Measure Q page ↗

Why Chapter 3.07 looks different from an older utility tax law

Marina's proposed Chapter 3.07 is not written as a one-line tax on “utility consumption.” It defines each covered service, where the service is sourced, which related charges can be included, how bundled bills are handled, how suppliers collect the tax, and how the Tax Administrator can rule on individual billing components.

This drafting style is not unique to Marina. California jurisdictions have modernized utility and communications tax laws as telecommunications, video delivery and utility billing became more complex. Los Angeles described its 2008 change as modernizing and clarifying its telephone tax for current technologies. Sacramento's 2008 law likewise said communications technology and billing had changed dramatically. Glendale uses an older UUT for electricity, gas and water and a later communications-tax law for modern telecommunications and video.

Why this matters when comparing the City's estimate with your bill

KMA's June 2026 estimate is a population model, not a prediction of one resident's invoice. It used Marina-specific PG&E usage, an MCWD estimate for a typical single-family home, and broader estimates for phone/mobile and video. KMA calculated about $523/month for its full-rate household example and about $495 to $496/month across all modeled households.

Your tax can differ because your actual services differ from those averages and because Chapter 3.07 defines taxable charges within each service. The bill-entry tool above lets a resident replace the average with their own estimated taxable categories.

Resolution 2026-100 and proposed Chapter 3.07 ↗ · June 2026 KMA utility model ↗

$300, $496 and your actual utility bill: these are different numbers

The distinction is between a funding scenario and an estimated household utility cost. A $300 fixed assumption can show how a lower, non-growing tax base performs over time, but it is not evidence that the typical Marina household actually spends only $300 each month on the taxable utility categories. KMA built its later estimate from Marina-specific PG&E usage, MCWD information and telephone/video estimates.

What happens if actual collections are higher?

The proposed UUT is a general tax. The official ballot language estimates approximately $3.83 million annually and allows the money raised to support the listed public-safety, emergency, facility, street and other general City services. The City's facilities work separately identifies an approximately $50 million funding gap after existing resources.

A household loan is a useful analogy, but only up to a point. A mortgage or car loan has scheduled payments, and a borrower may sometimes pay additional principal. Similarly, Marina could structure and manage municipal debt so that available money raised is used for scheduled debt service and, when the bond documents permit economical prepayment, potentially for earlier principal reduction. But because the UUT is a general tax, money raised above scheduled debt service is not automatically required to pay down the bond. The City Council could appropriate it to other lawful general municipal purposes.

Which numbers are estimates?

The 450 commercial accounts and $2,800/month average commercial utility bill in the supplied model remain explicitly labeled as model assumptions unless a primary City record establishes those exact figures. The June KMA work used Marina-specific commercial information, but the site will not substitute a different number merely because it is convenient. Readers can see the assumption and the source method separately.

General tax does not mean no controls

Measure Q is a general tax. The money raised is not restricted by law to the three facility projects and may be used for the public-safety, facility, street and other general City services identified in the measure. That flexibility is real.

Calling it an unchecked blank check leaves out controls in the measure. The City's published language requires the money to remain local, requires spending disclosures and independent audits, and states that the tax continues until ended by voters. The City also says the Council may reduce or suspend the tax.

How do other City issues fit?

Parks, Preston Park, development incentives, litigation, recreation facilities and transportation projects can be legitimate questions without necessarily being the same financial question as Measure Q. Use the City Issues & Measure Q FAQ to see what is directly related, indirectly related, or financially separate.