Good morning, Mill Valley. It’s a weekend to commemorate and of course to take part in everything this town has to offer.
🌤️ Today's weather: Mostly cloudy this morning, clearing through the afternoon. High near 61. Light southwest wind picking up to 5 to 9 mph by midday. (Source: National Weather Service)
🌤️ Memorial Day forecast: Partly sunny with a high near 61 and a west southwest wind at 5 to 9 mph. Monday night turns breezy, with winds around 10 mph and gusts to 22. (Source: National Weather Service)
Today's newsletter: Measure E explained, from the starting rate to the escalator. The float builder from Homestead Valley who keeps showing up for this town. And from the Mill Valley Record, May 25, 1944: two dispatches from the same war.
- Written and edited by Franz Strasser-Galvis
Measure E explained: A renewal, a restoration, and what it means for your tax bill
Mill Valley School District voters go to the polls June 2 on Measure E, a parcel tax renewal. A yes vote requires two-thirds approval. Here is what the measure does, what it costs, and what the competing claims are actually based on.
What's happening: Measure E is not a single new tax. It combines two levies.
The first is the active parcel tax passed by voters in 2016, currently set at $1,448 per parcel after nine years of 5% annual escalation. That levy expires in 2029. Measure E would replace it early with a new eight-year measure.
The second is Measure B, a levy approved by voters in 2012 with a 3% annual escalator that expired in 2021. Measure E restores it at $234 per parcel.
Together, the two levies produce the measure's starting rate of $1,754, with a 5% annual escalator through 2034.
Sources: Marin County Office of Education ballot documents. Projections by Mill Valley Briefing.
Why it matters: According to the district's formal ballot notice, Measure E would provide $14.9 million annually, representing roughly 25% of the district's $57 million budget.
MVSD is a basic-aid district, meaning its primary revenue comes from local property taxes rather than per-pupil state allocations. When enrollment rises, state funding does not follow. Enrollment is expected to reach more than 2,550 students this fall, according to MVSD board president Natalie Katz, an increase of roughly 125 students across all grades. Three new transitional kindergarten (TK) classrooms are needed to accommodate the youngest of those learners.
Under California Education Code § 48000, each TK classroom must maintain at least one adult for every 10 students starting in 2025-26, staffed by a credentialed teacher with specific early childhood qualifications and a mandatory instructional aide. The combined cost runs approximately $280,000 in salary and benefits per TK classroom, according to MVSD budget calculations shared by Assistant Superintendent of Business and Operations Paula Rigney.
What's at stake: The district cut 10% of its 2024-25 budget, according to a November 2025 board presentation, corroborated by the IJ editorial board. In November 2025, the board voted to reinstate transitional kindergarten after the state superintendent issued a letter clarifying that any district offering kindergarten must also offer TK, regardless of funding mechanism. Operating nine TK classrooms in 2025-26 cost $1.8 million, covered by one-time community contributions from Early Education Marin and Kiddo, and a draw on the district's general fund. The state provided no dedicated TK funding, according to Assistant Superintendent Rigney.
For 2026-27, the program expands to 12 classrooms at an estimated cost of $3.3 million, according to Rigney. Without a new funding source, Rigney said, the entire amount would need to be absorbed by the district's general fund.
The context: District polling completed last August and presented to the board in October 2025 showed 72% support after voters heard the case for the measure, holding at 70% after hearing opposition messaging. The threshold for passage is 66.7%.
The debate: The Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers, a Marin-wide group that has opposed multiple parcel tax measures on the June ballot, opposes the measure. Their mailer states it represents a 71% increase. The figure compares the current 2025-26 levy rate of $1,448 to the terminal rate of $2,468 in year 8. Under the voter-approved 2016 measure, that rate would have reached $1,676 by 2028-29 even without Measure E.
CST president Mimi Willard told the Briefing this week that the group's primary objection is not the base rate but the 5% annual escalator, which she says costs homeowners $1,153 more per parcel over eight years than a 3% escalator would. A Briefing review confirms that figure.
The IJ editorial board called the 5% escalator "a hefty ask" while endorsing the measure. In its formal ballot argument, the district says the 5% escalator is necessary to keep pace with rising benefit costs and remain competitive with neighboring districts on teacher pay. Voters approved the same escalator rate in 2016. Larkspur-Corte Madera passed an identical structure in 2022.
What's next: The existing 2016 levy continues through 2029 regardless of the June outcome, and no immediate cliff results from a no vote. But the district is already running a structural deficit, according to a November 2025 board presentation. Rigney described the 2025-26 TK funding model, which relied on one-time community contributions from Early Education Marin and Kiddo, as unsustainable.
Board president Natalie Katz told the Briefing this week that no formal recommendations for reductions have been made to the board. "We know that will be something that will need to be addressed imminently should Measure E not pass," she wrote.
Property owners aged 65 and over who use their parcel as a primary residence may apply for an exemption from the parcel tax, according to the measure's formal ballot notice. All registered voters in the district may vote on the measure regardless of property ownership status, according to Marin County Elections staff.
How to vote:
Return your ballot so it arrives by June 2. If mailing your ballot on election day, confirm it is postmarked June 2. Two 24-hour drop boxes are available in Mill Valley through June 2 at 8pm: Mill Valley City Hall, 26 Corte Madera Ave, and the Mill Valley Community Center parking lot, 180 Camino Alto.
Two vote centers open in Mill Valley starting Saturday May 30, 9am to 5pm, and on election day from 7am to 8pm: Homestead Valley Community Center, 315 Montford Ave, and Tam Valley Community Center, 203 Marin Ave. Both are accessible. Voters whose ballots were undeliverable can still vote in person at either location.
A note on sourcing: Figures in this piece were verified against original ballot measure documents from the Marin County Office of Education, including the formal notice of special tax election signed by the Marin County Superintendent of Schools on February 25, 2026, direct correspondence, and a November 2025 MVSD board meeting transcript and presentation. TK staffing requirements were verified against California Education Code § 48000. The year-by-year tax projection table and charts were produced by the Briefing using confirmed levy rates and escalator terms. Voting information was confirmed by Marin County Elections staff and the county elections website.
📝 Disclosure: The editor of this newsletter has a child entering TK in Mill Valley this fall. We believe trust in journalism is earned, and transparency is part of how we earn it. Every factual claim in this piece was verified against primary sources before publication and reported without modification based on that personal connection. More on our standards and editorial guidelines here.
This week in Mill Valley history: Memorial Day, 1944
On Memorial Day 1944, Marin County gathered in San Rafael for a military parade, the Gettysburg Address read aloud, and Taps played by a bugler. The Mill Valley Record that week carried two dispatches from the war. One from the living, one about the dead.
Lieutenant Jane Stevens, an Army nurse who had lived in Mill Valley as a child, wrote to her aunt Mrs. James Russell from somewhere in England, near Birmingham. "The country is so beautiful, I can't get over it," she wrote, "and I can't find words to describe it adequately. It reminds me of Mill Valley in the spring, down by the Old Mill, and the drive up to Glacier Point in early May. So many shades of green, I can't count them: blossoms, lilac and flowers everywhere."
The front page of the Mill Valley Record on May 25, 1944.
Three weeks earlier, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Gomez of Ethel Avenue had received word that their youngest son was dead. Lieutenant Frank Gomez, 22, had served as a navigator on a heavy bomber with the 10th Air Force in India. According to the Record, he had completed more than 30 missions by Christmas 1943 and had recently received the Air Medal. He spoke of the difficulties of flying over the Himalayan mountains. He was killed in action on May 3, 1944. The flag at Tamalpais High School flew at half staff in his honor.
Two Mill Valley people, the same week, the same war.
Source: Mill Valley Record, May 25, 1944.
Community profile
The float builder
Tim Ryan has been doing this for more than a decade, and the town keeps showing up to help.
The community artist who lives in Homestead Valley will have a float in Monday's Memorial Day parade, this year themed "Our Democracy." Getting it there runs close to $1,000: candy, t-shirts, registration fees, signs, glue. A GoFundMe covered most of it.
Tim Ryan working on his latest float in his backyard. (MVB, May 16)
Ryan works for the San Rafael City School District. On weekends in the weeks before the parade, his backyard in Homestead Valley becomes a workshop: dozens of volunteers show up to paint, build and glue.
His first-place trophies for his floats line the windows of his apartment. Key items from past parade floats, a Mill Valley sign and a butterfly, have taken up residence in the yard. This year's build is still underway as we visit. The materials include architectural blueprints salvaged from a school construction project, state approval stamp and all. The t-shirts, which Ryan designs with slogans meant to outlive the parade, are already boxed and waiting. A friend was spotted recently wearing one from a prior year: "Have unprotected gratitude."
Several objects from past years’ floats are in Ryan’s backyard. (MVB, May 16)
The float is the most visible expression of a longer practice. During COVID he bent metal rings from wine barrels into heart shapes and left eight of them outside his house with a note: give these to someone who is struggling. People took them. One woman came back to tell him her dog had died that morning and she kept hers. He made more and has since given away more than 1,800. "Whenever anyone asks me for a heart," he said, "I make them take two. One to keep, one to share."
The 2024 Jefferson Award, given annually to Bay Area residents for community service, went to him.
"It brings me joy," he said of the float. "What it does to little kids, dancing up and down when they get a piece of candy or they see a float that makes them excited. You can't put a dollar amount on that."
A telephone and a question mark are on this year’s float with the theme ‘Do not wait for a leader - answer the call yourself.’ (MVB, May 16)
His father built floats. His own child built with him. After he stops working, he says, he plans to build floats for other people.
The parade steps off at 10:30am Monday on Miller Avenue. The Veterans Ceremony runs first, including winners of this year's K-8 essay contest, "What does Memorial Day mean to me and my family." The Volunteer Fire Department pancake breakfast runs from 7 to 11am. Throckmorton and Miller will be closed from roughly 8am to 1pm.
What we covered this week
🍕 Mill Valley schools are switching lunch vendors this fall. The board voted unanimously to bring in Revolution Foods after a blind taste test that included sixth graders as judges. We broke down what the new contract costs, why the district is switching again and what "reheated under plastic film" still means regardless of who makes the food.
🗳️ The Municipal Services Tax is headed to the November ballot. The council voted 5-0 Monday to advance the 39-year parcel levy toward a fifth public vote. We reported on how far Mill Valley's roads have come since 2016, how much is still left to fix and why the renewal term shrank from 12 years to 10.
⚡ PG&E is burying 16 miles of powerlines through Blithedale Canyon and Middle Ridge starting in 2027. We mapped the project footprint and reported on why it's already changing decisions at City Hall.
🌳 Boyle Park has a master plan for the first time since 1991. The council adopted it unanimously Monday, then spent an hour in the weeds: $2 million restrooms, a contested basketball hoop, a bridge one member called dilapidated and another said wasn't worth the permitting fight.
🏫 A TUHSD trustee threatened to resign in a way that would have deadlocked the board. The board president disclosed it in open session Tuesday. We reported on what was said, what the district's attorney ruled and why the timing matters as the parcel tax process heads toward a July decision point.
🌲 A 65-foot heritage redwood on Throckmorton Avenue is coming down. Two arborists and a decade of inspection reports concluded the tree was destroying the foundation of an 1894 home. We reported on why the city required only three replacement trees instead of the 23 the ordinance would normally demand.
🎂 The Mill Valley Community Center turns 25 this weekend. We reported on how it got built: 13 years, two architecture firms, a threatened move to Bayfront Park and a fundraising campaign that opened with three phone calls and $600,000 in pledges before the first meeting was over.
If you want read about any of these stories as they develop, the daily Briefing lands in your inbox Monday through Friday at 6am. A paid subscription makes this reader-funded, local news operation possible. It’s $12 per month, which you can cancel anytime, and the annual subscription comes out to less than $2 a week. Upgrading is only two clicks if you use Apple Pay.
📅 Next week in Mill Valley
Mon, May 25 – Volunteer Fire Department Pancake Breakfast, Downtown in front of City Hall, 7am. Kick off the holiday with a legendary community favorite serving up a hearty breakfast and a chance to catch up with our local firefighters.
Mon, May 25 – Veterans Ceremony & Mill Valley Memorial Day Parade, Miller Avenue to Downtown, 10:30am. A beloved local tradition celebrating this year’s theme, “Our Democracy.” The parade features festive floats, marching bands, and classic cars rolling through town from Old Mill Park.
Mon, May 25 – Kiddo! Day on the Green & Community Center 25th Anniversary, Mill Valley Community Center, 12 to 7pm. A massive afternoon celebration packed with carnival rides, games, food trucks, and a family-friendly beer and wine garden. Featuring live music from IrieFuse and Secret Lives, capped off by headliner Tainted Love from 5 to 7pm.
Tue, May 26 – Tuesday Night Comedy, Throckmorton Theatre, 8 to 10pm. The weekly stand-up showcase continues with a fresh professional lineup including Steve Barkley, Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, Sergio Blanco, and Victor Pacheco. Doors open at 7:30pm.
Wed, May 27 – Annual TCSD Budget Workshop & Public Hearing, Tam Valley Community Center, 8:30am. The TCSD Board of Directors hosts a public session to review the proposed Fiscal Year 2026–27 Operating and Capital Improvement budgets, including the contested 5-year sewer rate study.
Wed, May 27 – John Craigie, Sweetwater, 8pm. The acclaimed folk singer-songwriter brings his intimate "Help! The Lonely Beatles For Sale" run to the historic stage, blending clever storytelling with comedic and heartfelt Beatles reimagining. All ages; doors open at 7:00pm. (Note: Sold out).
Thu, May 28 – Musical: Into the Woods, Throckmorton Theatre, 7 to 9:30pm (Fri/Sat, 7pm; Sun, 2pm). The second big weekend begins for this spellbinding Stephen Sondheim musical journey where fairy tale wishes come true—at a price.
Thu, May 28 – John Craigie, Sweetwater, 8pm. Night two of the beloved folk artist's back-to-back, fully acoustic Beatles-inspired run. All ages; doors open at 7:00pm. (Note: Sold out).
Fri, May 29 – Purple Haze – A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix, Sweetwater, 8pm. A high-energy, electrifying tribute performance covering the legendary catalog of rock icon Jimi Hendrix. All ages; doors open at 7:00pm.
Sat, May 30 – Poets Laureate Galore, Mill Valley Library Main Reading Room, 6:30 to 8pm. An evening of exceptional regional poetry featuring Molly Fisk, Julia Levine, and additional guests. Registration required.
Sun, May 31 – Sol Horizon, Sweetwater, 8pm. Move your feet to a night of uplifting roots reggae and conscious lyrics from the North Bay's premier reggae band. All ages; doors open at 7:00pm.
🔍 Businesses and venues mentioned in this section are covered on editorial merit only. No business has paid for coverage. Promotional content is always labeled.
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Thanks for reading the Mill Valley Briefing.
It’s now been a month of daily newsletters and this weekly Sunday edition. We hosted one live event already and the next one is being scheduled and announced soon. The last missing piece is a podcast and I’m happy to say that we recorded an episode already, finalized a name and logo for it, and even have the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, overseen by a local music legend and Tam High graduate, working on an original sound design for it. Can’t wait to share that.
- Franz
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