Marin County to consider Oak Hill guarantor program
This article, written by Richard Halstead, was originally published in the Marin Independent Journal.
Marin County supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to take an initial step toward helping to guarantee rental income for a housing project designed to serve educators and county employees.
The project, the Village at Oak Hill, envisions construction of 135 apartments on vacant land donated by the state in eastern Larkspur near San Quentin. The plan is to reserve 101 of the apartments for the employees of local schools and 34 for county employees.
The project, which is being overseen by the Marin County Public Financing Authority, a joint partnership between Marin County and the Marin County Office of Education, has a $16.4 million funding gap. Rising interest rates since the project launched are to blame, said Matthew Hymel, the authority’s director and a former county executive.
As a means of reducing the deficit, the authority is asking Marin County and local school districts to guarantee future rental income from the apartments for 40 years as a means of convincing bondholders to accept lower interest rates on the loan that will finance the project.
Tamalpais Union High School District declined to participate in the guarantee program in March. The Novato Unified School District and the College of Marin have both expressed interest. The project was initially designed to serve the county’s 17 school districts. College of Marin was invited in after the funding gap emerged.
Despite the fact that the county could still reverse course, opponents of the plan warned strongly against embarking on a slippery slope.
“If you agree today, you are essentially getting pregnant and then you become reluctant to abort further on,” said Mimi Willard, president of the Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers. “That is why I suggest you not do so.”