2022 Local Ballot Measures

The Los Angeles City Council in June authorized Proposition SP, a 30-year parcel tax, for the November ballot. If approved, the measure would generate $227 million a year, or $4.5 billion over twenty years. Funds will be prioritized based on Los Angeles’ “equity index” to provide park-poor communities with safe access to parks and recreation facilities. The measure will also pay for improvements to and acquisition of open space, waterways, recreation facilities, regional parks, trails, and beaches, as well as operations and maintenance.

Marin County voters approved a new parcel tax to finance a $23 million bond to help purchase the 110-acre Tiburon Ridge, also known as the “Martha Property,” by 77 percent. Acquisition of this property would to protect critically endangered open space, natural areas, wildlife habitat, and water quality for surrounding Tiburon and Belvedere.

Measure 1A, which will fund parks, trails, open space, historic preservation, and conservation for the next fifteen years, was approved by 88 percent. This renewal of the 0.17 percent sales and use tax is expected to raise $217 million.

Routt County voters approved Prop 1A, the reauthorization of the County’s Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) program, by 85 percent. The measure will provide continued funding for the PDR program for the next ten years to conserve water, wildlife, and working ranches.  At a rate of 1.5 mills, the property tax levy is expected to raise $29 million. 

Issue 3F was approved by 59 percent and will increase the town’s sales and use tax by $1.62 million annually at a rate of 0.25 percent. The measure will provide dedicated funding for open space land acquisition, stewardship, operations, and maintenance. The sales and use tax increase is expected to raise $32 million over twenty years.

Alachua County voters voted 52 percent to renew the county’s popular Wild Spaces & Public Places program, which will conservatively raise $246 million for parks and land conservation over ten years. An additional $246 million will also be raised for repair of existing roads, fire stations and public facilities, and provision of affordable housing. This one-cent sales tax will replace the existing half cent sales tax. This is the fourth conservation funding measure before Alachua County voters in 22 years and the third with assistance from TPL.

Brevard County voters approved $50 million in bonds to extend the County’s Environmentally Endangered Lands program to acquire, improve and maintain wildlife habitat, wetlands, woodlands, and lands that protect Indian River Lagoon and St. Johns River by 70 percent. Funding will also maintain and improve nature education centers. The bonds will be backed by a property tax of up to 0.1465 mills.

By 78 percent, Indian River County voters approved a $50 million bond to continue the County’s highly successful conservation land acquisition program. This is Indian River County’s third land conservation funding measure, following successful bond measures in 1992 and 2004. TPL assisted with the $50 million bond measure in 2004. Funds would be used to preserve environmentally significant lands to restore the Indian River Lagoon, protect water resources, natural areas, wildlife habitat, and drinking water sources.

The Miami Lakes’ Town Council referred a $19.5 million bond to the ballot to renovate the 50-year-old Optimist Park. Located in one of Florida’s early planned communities, Optimist Park serves not only this diverse town of 30,467, but also the regional Miami Lakes Middle School, a Title 1 school with a substantial number of disadvantaged students. If approved, the funding would be used to improve the park’s athletic fields, trails, exercise stations, basketball courts, tennis and pickleball courts, restrooms, lighting, and parking facilities.

By 68 percent, Nassau County voters approved a $30 million bond to establish a new county land conservation program to acquire lands that improve water quality and protect drinking water sources, natural areas, beaches and the St. Mary’s, Nassau and Amelia Rivers. Conservation of these lands will also help reduce flooding, conserve wildlife habitat, and provide outdoor recreation. Nassau County has already received 750 project proposals for places that residents would like to see conserved. TPL has worked with Nassau County since 2019 to move this measure to the ballot. The measure was referred to and subsequently removed from the November 2020 ballot due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By 58 percent, Polk County voters approved a 0.20 mill property tax increase to preserve water resources, environmental lands, and fish and wildlife habitat.  The measure would generate $200 million over twenty years and support $75 million bond.

TPL has been working since 2016 to establish dedicated funding for the Forest Preserves of Cook County. Cook County voters approved the 0.025 percent property tax increase on the November ballot by 68 percent. The measure will generate over $1 billion over 25 years. This funding will be used to implement the “Next Century Conservation Plan,” which proposes to restore 30,000 acres and acquire land to expand the forest preserves, improving air and water quality and protecting wildlife habitat and natural areas for the Cook County, especially in Chicago’s southeastern suburbs.

Five Massachusetts municipalities voted to adopt the Community Preservation Act, a state program that allows communities to establish a local property tax dedicated to open space, outdoor recreation, historic preservation, and affordable housing.  Worcester, the second largest city in Massachusetts, approved CPA at 52 percent, which will generate $24 million for watershed protection and affordable housing. The towns of Boylston, Natick, Shelburne and Westborough also approved CPA.

Based on a successful 2006 land conservation bond, Ravalli County voters approved a $10 million bond at 71 percent. The measure will extend funding for this western Montana county’s Open Lands Program, designed to manage increasing county growth, preserve open space, protect the Bitterroot River, bolster the local economy, and maintain wildlife habitat through voluntary conservation easements and the creation of new recreation amenities.

At $4.2 billion, this is the largest state measure on the November 2022 ballot. It was referred to and subsequently removed from the November 2020 ballot due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the New York Legislature again referred the measure to the November 2022 ballot. New York voters approved the bond by 67 percent.  In addition to providing significant funding for climate adaptation and resiliency, the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Jobs Bond requires that at least 40 percent of the funding be dedicated to projects that improve the environment in environmental justice communities, ensuring substantial and meaningful impact in communities that have been hardest hit by pollution historically.

Following the successful New Paltz, NY, measure in 2020, Gardiner became the second municipality in Ulster County to approve a new real estate transfer tax to support a local Community Preservation Fund. The new tax was approved by 74 percent. The fund will be used to protect the town’s river and streams, drinking water source, working farms, and wildlife habitat. The 1.25 percent real estate transfer tax would generate an estimated $8 million over twenty years.

Buncombe County voters approved two companion bond questions on the ballot: a $30 million bond for land conservation, trails, and protecting farms and forests and a $40 million bond for affordable housing. The bonds were approved by 69 percent and 62 percent respectively. Both are backed by modest property tax levies. These bonds will enable Buncombe County to protect an estimated 6,000 acres of land by 2030, assist in completing a robust system of trails, and provide workforce housing in Buncombe County.

Metropolitan Cleveland voters approved a 10-year, 2.7 mill levy for the Parks District, replacing their existing levy, by 77 percent. The measure is expected to generate $960 million over ten years.

Carbon County is the first county in Pennsylvania to consider dedicated funding for land conservation since 2008. The $10 million bond was approved by 81 percent and will protect drinking water sources, the water quality of lakes, rivers, and streams, working farms and local food sources, and wildlife habitat.

Westtown voters approved both an earned income tax increase and property tax increase to help fund the acquisition of historic Crebilly Farm, site of the Revolutionary War Battle of the Brandywine.  The measure passed at 66 percent.

Beaufort County voters approved by 53 percent the first county sales tax measure dedicated to land conservation under new state enabling legislation passed earlier this year. The one-cent sales will apply only for two years and raise up to $100 million to preserve land, purchase easements, and protect water quality. The measure enables land conservation not only in Beaufort County, but also in more rural and disadvantaged adjacent Jasper, Hampton, and Colleton Counties. This is the sixth land conservation funding measure considered by Beaufort County voters, following successful bond referenda in 2000, 2006, 2012, 2014, and 2018.

Berkeley County voters renewed the county’s 1 percent transportation sales tax to both repair roads and, for the first time, also fund a county “greenbelt” program by 74 percent. The Berkeley County program is modeled on neighboring Charleston County’s successful greenbelt program. The Berkeley County program is estimated to generate $59 million for the purchase of property for conservation, passive and active greenspace, protecting natural resources, agricultural or heritage landscapes, and scenic corridors.

The Dorchester County approved a renewal of their transportation sales tax that also includes funding for a new “greenbelt” program by 59 percent. This measure will generate $35 million to protect land and improve water quality in this Charleston-area community which is experiencing rapid growth. This is the third ballot measure TPL has supported in Dorchester County, having worked on successful park bonds in 2010 and 2019.

Proposition A, which allows the City of Dallas to increase its hotel tax by 2 percent, was approved on Tuesday with 68 percent voter support. An estimated $300 million of the $1.5 billion to be generated will go toward renovation and repair of the historic 277-acre Fair Park, one of Dallas’s oldest parks and home to the annual State Fair of Texas. The majority of the funds will support the creation of a new convention center.

Located deep in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, Kendall County is the fifth fastest growing in the country. Kendall County voters approved a $20 million bond for land conservation to protect the Guadalupe River, drinking water sources, working farms and ranches, and wildlife habitat by 67 percent.

Voters in Cache County, UT approved a $20 million general obligation bond at 54 percent. The measure will fund open space land acquisition to protect the water quality, wildlife habitat, and agricultural lands. Funds from the bond will also be spent on addition trails, trail connectivity, and maintaining the integrity of the scenic mountain vistas throughout the county.

At 69 percent, Salt Lake City voters approved an $85 million general obligation bond to the November ballot to fund key priorities in the city’s park master plan and to ensure equitable investment into parks and trails throughout the city. City Council cited seven specific projects for funding that will improve quality of life, water and air quality, and create more access to open space for all residents, with a particular emphasis on the historically underserved west side of the city.

Voters in the greater Seattle area of King County voted 68 percent for a measure that will double the existing mill levy enabled by Washington’s Conservation Futures program. The measure will generate $440 million with the goal of conserving 65,000 acres of open space over the next thirty years, including forests, trails, rivers, farmlands, and green spaces.

Voters in metropolitan Tacoma voted 63 percent to restore their park district’s property tax levy to 75 cents per $1,000, the maximum allowable tax rate for parks districts under state law. Restoring funding for the Metro Parks District will generate to $148 million to fund wildfire prevention, operations and maintenance of parks and facilities, preserve open space, expand youth programming, and improve safety and security.