WHAT IT COSTS YOUR HOUSEHOLD

​

$500 per year, or $5,000 over ten years, for a family of three*. 

​

• That's a summer of Junior Lifeguards, a year of AYSO soccer, or orthodontic braces paid for over that decade. 

• A senior couple loses a large piece of their annual Social Security cost-of-living increase — money meant for medical care and utilities.

• The exemption for groceries and prescriptions comes from state law, not from Measure M, and it does not reduce the tax burden. Soda, toilet paper, pet food, cleaning supplies, and over-the-counter medicines are fully taxed, along with gasoline, building materials, furniture, clothing, school supplies, restaurant meals, your Amazon Prime membership, and virtually everything else you buy online. Add Microsoft 365, TurboTax and ChatGPT starting next year. 

 

Proponents say visitors share the cost. But this tax follows your home address. Buy or lease a car anywhere in California and register it here, and you pay about $500 extra. A visitor buying a car here pays nothing to San Clemente. Shop online? You pay it.

​

*Based on $15 million per year, reduced by an assumed 30% visitor share, divided by a population of 62,226 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 estimate).

​

​

THREE REASONS TO VOTE NO

​

1. Tax first, plan later.

​

Section 3.22.170.C allows the City to begin collecting revenue immediately and wait up to 12 months before adopting a spending plan. Voters are asked to approve $150 million before anyone has committed to what it buys.

​

2. Regional collaboration on sand is working without a tax increase.

​

The Army Corps' 50-year program brings two million cubic yards of sand, with renourishment every five to six years. At the July 17, 2024 meeting, the City Manager estimated the City's share at about $10 million per cycle, roughly $2 million a year. Measure M's beach fund would collect $7.5 million every year, more than three times that. The State covered much of the local share in the first phase and continues to offer competitive grants for future phases.

​

Meanwhile, OCTA has committed over $300 million to its current projects in San Clemente, rebuilt the beach trail at Mariposa Point at no cost to the City, and is legally obliged to place 240,000 cubic yards of sand on our beaches as a permit condition, with 300,000 more pledged on the State Beach. The delay is due to the permit process, and no amount of local tax money will speed it up.

​

In the Voter Information Guide, proponents dismiss OCTA's sand as "not contractually guaranteed" and say only about 240,000 cubic yards are proposed for 'San Clemente beaches.' But the 240,000 is a permit condition OCTA is legally obliged to meet, and the remaining 300,000 are planned for San Clemente State Beach, which is in San Clemente. All of it at no cost to the City. 

​

We believe the City can meet its share within the existing budget through reprioritization, grants, economic development, and revenue that is already growing. Four approved hotel projects are expected to add about $1-2 million a year in hotel taxes once they open, paid almost entirely by visitors rather than residents. And starting in 2027, state law extends the sales tax to software subscriptions, bringing the City new revenue without Measure M.

​

​

3. A Fire Fund shell game 

​

In the Voter Information Guide, proponents call the fire fund loophole "False!" and describe the fund as wildfire prevention. But the first use the measure actually lists is paying OCFA, the fire service the City already pays for (§3.22.150(B)(1)). They also promise "independent oversight," yet the measure's oversight committee is the City-appointed Investment Advisory Committee.

​

Measure M's fire fund has no guarantee that a single dollar will go to new services. Nothing requires the City to keep spending what it spends on fire protection today. Here's what could happen with your money. The City collects $7.5 million a year from your higher sales tax, then uses it to pay part of the roughly $12 million OCFA contract you're already paying for through the General Fund. The General Fund money that frees up can be diverted to anything the Council chooses. It would pass any audit, because paying for existing fire service is the first allowable use listed in the text of measure M.

​

And if the City does add the full amount on top? That's a jump from about $12 million to nearly $20 million a year, over 60%, with no needs assessment explaining why.

​

Proponents say "every dollar of the new tax is legally restricted." That's technically true but misleading: the restriction covers your new tax, not the money the City already spends. You pay more. You may not get more. And once it passes, you're locked in for ten years.

​

​

WE'RE NOT SAYING DO NOTHING

​

We support protecting the coast and reducing wildfire risk. We support doing it without increasing tax burden on residents:

​

• Maximize the OCTA projects already funded at Mariposa Point and the State Beach. Continue to collaborate with OCTA on its 30-year Coastal Rail Resiliency future project to leverage state and federal resources for our beach nourishment. 
• Commit to the Army Corps 50-year program and seek state grants aggressively.
• Push for state permitting reform so shovel-ready projects stop waiting.

• We must insist on cost-sharing from all public and private property owners who benefit from a regional approach, given that the City owns only 40% of the beaches, while the rest are State Beach or private property.

JOIN US

In 2024, the 0.5% Measure BB failed. Proponents are back with a doubled ask — without a clear plan, legal safeguards that matter, or cost-benefit analysis. It's excessive and unnecessary.