This November, San Rafael voters decide whether to raise the city's real property transfer tax from $2 per $1,000 of a home's sale price to $10, a fivefold increase the city council placed on the ballot by a 4-0 vote on July 20, 2026, with Councilmember Maika Llorens Gulati absent. If the measure passes, a seller closing on a home in San Rafael will owe a city transfer tax alone that is nearly ten times what the same seller owes today.
If you're selling a house nine miles away in Fairfax, none of that touches your closing statement. Not because Fairfax voters weighed in and said no. Fairfax was never asked, and under California law it structurally cannot be asked to do what San Rafael just did. That difference comes down to a distinction in state municipal law that most sellers never think about until they see two very different numbers on two very similar homes.
The Measure That Can't Cross the City Line
San Rafael's transfer tax is currently $2 per $1,000 of sale price, or 0.2%. The ballot measure would push it to 1%, a change city officials project will generate roughly $6 million in additional annual revenue, bringing total transfer tax collections to about $7.5 million a year.
The city's case rests partly on how little of the property tax pie it keeps. San Rafael's finance director, Navazio, told the council that the city retains 12.2% of property tax revenue collected within its borders, below the county-wide average of 16.2%. Mill Valley keeps 25.8%, the highest share among Marin cities. Novato keeps 7%, the lowest. San Rafael sits closer to the bottom of that range while also carrying the county seat's share of aging streets and storm drains, which is the argument for asking sellers to cover more of the gap.
Not everyone in Marin's real estate community is on board. One local agent, Phoebe Reyes, put the concern plainly: sellers "would have to eat the increased taxes." A resident cited research from the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies warning that high transfer taxes tend to reduce turnover and slow revitalization in commercial corridors. The council voted to let voters settle the question in November.
Charter Cities Get a Tool No One Else in Marin Has
Here is the part of the story that explains why Fairfax isn't holding a similar vote. California splits its cities into two legal categories: charter cities and general law cities. Every incorporated town in Marin is a general law city except one. San Rafael is Marin's only charter city, and that status is the entire reason this ballot measure is possible at all.
General law cities, including Fairfax, Mill Valley, Novato, San Anselmo, Sausalito, and Tiburon, can levy a documentary transfer tax of up to $0.55 per $1,000 of sale price. But that city-level tax is credited against the county's own $1.10 per $1,000 tax rather than stacked on top of it. The net effect is that a seller in any of these towns pays the same combined $1.10 per $1,000 no matter which one the home sits in. The city and the county are splitting a fixed pie, not adding two separate slices.
Charter cities aren't bound by that credit mechanism. San Rafael's city tax sits on top of the full county rate, which is why its current combined rate already runs to $3.10 per $1,000, nearly three times Fairfax's total. If November's measure passes, that combined rate would jump to $11.10 per $1,000.
| City | Status | City Rate (per $1,000) | County Rate (per $1,000) | Combined Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfax, Mill Valley, Novato, San Anselmo, Sausalito, Tiburon | General law | $0.55 | $0.55 (credited) | $1.10 |
| San Rafael, current | Charter | $2.00 | $1.10 | $3.10 |
| San Rafael, if Nov. 2026 measure passes | Charter | $10.00 | $1.10 | $11.10 |
Fairfax can't propose a version of this measure to its own voters even if it wanted to. State law simply doesn't hand general law cities the authority to set a stand-alone transfer tax rate the way a charter city can.
What the Gap Actually Costs on a Real Fairfax Sale
Fairfax's home prices moved around more than usual this year, which is normal for a town where fewer than 30 homes change hands in any given month. The median sale price came in near $1.4 million over the three months ending in May, and dropped to roughly $1,146,500 for July alone. Split the difference and use $1.25 million as a stand-in for a fairly typical Fairfax sale this year.
On that $1.25 million home, the numbers land like this:
- Sold in Fairfax today: $1,375 in combined transfer tax
- Sold in San Rafael today: $3,875 in combined transfer tax
- Sold in San Rafael if the November measure passes: $13,875 in combined transfer tax
That's a gap of roughly $12,500 between what a Fairfax seller pays today and what a San Rafael seller would pay after the election, on the exact same sale price. The tax itself is a small fraction of most sellers' total closing costs, which typically run 6% to 8% of sale price once commission is factored in. But it's one of the few line items where the town, not the market, decides the number outright.
Who actually writes the transfer tax check is a matter of contract and custom rather than statute. In much of California the seller traditionally covers it, though in parts of Northern California it gets split or shifted to the buyer by local practice. Either way, it belongs in the conversation before a listing goes live, not after an offer is already signed.
Fairfax's Bargain Ends at the Closing Table
A low transfer tax is a one-time event. What happens every year afterward tells a different story, and Fairfax sits at the opposite end of that ledger. A recent analysis of property tax bills against market value put Fairfax's effective property tax rate at 1.61%, the highest of any town in Marin County, compared to a county-wide median of 1.39% and a low of 1.11% in Stinson Beach.
Layer on the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority's Measure C parcel tax, which charges up to 10 cents per building square foot and is set to remain in effect through the 2029-30 fiscal year, and Fairfax homeowners are paying some of the county's highest annual carrying costs even as they enjoy some of its lowest one-time transfer costs. The two numbers pull in opposite directions, and neither one alone tells you what a Fairfax property actually costs to own over time.
If You're Selling in Fairfax This Fall
None of this changes because of anything happening in San Rafael. What it does mean is that pricing a Fairfax listing well requires separating the closing-day costs, which are fixed by state formula, from the ongoing costs a buyer will be evaluating when they run their own numbers. Buyers comparing Fairfax to a charter city like San Rafael are weighing a lower transfer tax against a higher annual tax bill, and a seller who can speak to both sides of that comparison is easier to trust with the listing.
If you're weighing a sale in Fairfax, or trying to figure out what a Marin move actually costs town by town, Tiffany Knef can walk through the real numbers for your specific property. Schedule a free consultation to get a clear picture before you list.
A Few Questions Worth Settling Early
Does the San Rafael ballot measure affect my Fairfax closing costs at all? No. Fairfax's transfer tax rate is set by the general law formula under state law and is unrelated to any ballot measure in a different city. Nothing about the November vote changes what a Fairfax seller owes.
If I'm buying in San Rafael, should I close before the election? The measure, if approved, would take effect on a timeline set by the city following a successful November vote. Anyone with a pending purchase in San Rafael should ask their escrow officer for the specific effective date once the outcome is known, since ballot measures typically don't apply retroactively to sales already in escrow.
Is Fairfax cheaper to own than San Rafael overall? Not necessarily. Fairfax's transfer tax is lower, but its property tax rate runs higher than any other town in the county. Which one matters more depends on how long you plan to own the home. A short hold favors the lower transfer tax. A long hold means the annual property tax bill does more of the work.
