Marin agency outlines cost pressures on school crossing guard program

The Transportation Authority of Marin says climbing costs are again threatening to force cutbacks in a school crossing guard program.

The agency is looking at potential new funding options to keep the program afloat.

The discussion came Monday when an executive committee recommended approving four contracts to collect video of traffic at existing and proposed crossing guard sites to help officials create a ranked list on which to fund.

“The point when we’re deciding how far down the list we want to go is based on how much money we think we have for the program,” said Anne Richman, executive director of the Transportation Authority of Marin.

The contracts add up to $98,000. They are expected to be presented to the agency’s board next week for final approval. Video collection will be done by four firms simultaneously at 100 sites during the fall and early winter.

If the video contracts are approved, the analysis of the collection, the site recommendations and funding options are expected to presented to the board in the spring, Richman said.

The crossing guard program launched in 2006 with 54 guards. It was funded with Measure A, the original half-cent transportation sales tax approved by voters in 2004. It was expanded with funding from Measure B, the $10 vehicle registration fee approved in 2010, and again after the passage of Measure AA, the half-cent sales tax renewal, in 2018.

The Transportation Authority of Marin established a threshold of 96 crossing guards based on the available funding in 2018. Sites are selected based on pedestrian and vehicle counts, sight lines, speed limits, the history of crashes and other safety metrics.

In 2023, the board approved funding for 103 top-ranked sites because of safety concerns voiced by parents about lower-ranking crossings that weren’t going to make the funding cutoff.

Amid rising costs last year, the board decided to reduce the number of guarded sites back to the original 96, hoping to preserve the longevity of the program.

Changes to the state minimum wage are one of the bigger factors. Hiring and retaining guards has been difficult, too, because neighboring Bay Area jurisdictions pay higher wages for the same job, staff said.

Staffers said Monday that while costs are not increasing this year compared to last, there has been about a 6% annual historic growth.

For the 2025-2026 school year, the program to fund 96 guards is expected to cost $2.4 million, but costs are projected to climb around 4% the following school year. That would require the agency to find more money to sustain the program with 96 guards, or the number of guarded sites would drop to about 68.

The agency says it has tried to cut expenses already through a new evaluation process that was approved last year. It costs about $3,000 to $3,500 to evaluate each site, staff said.

To cut costs, the 42 sites that consistently rank high on the list will no longer require reevaluation. Twenty-one sites that have consistently ranked low will not be evaluated.

“I really appreciate that we’re sort of narrowing our tool for evaluating this program and looking at how we can be more efficient and effective,” said Marin County Supervisor Mary Sackett, a board member of the Transportation Authority of Marin.

Still, shortfalls are expected, and the agency is considering several funding options.

One option would be to increase the share from the Measure AA sales tax that supports the program. Seven percent of the tax revenue goes toward the crossing guards. The agency says a 1% increase annually from that fund would equal about $300,000 a year.

However, redirecting that money would mean another program that relies on the sales tax revenue would lose out.

Another option would be to increase the share from the Measure B “Element 3” fund, which provides about $175,000 for the program. The agency says it has the capacity to increase the amount up to about $750,000 a year, but again there would be tradeoffs.

The agency is considering pulling a one-time amount from the sales tax interest fund, or seeking a one-time grant to support the program. These options do not provide long-term sustainability, though, staff said.

Additionally, managers are looking into using funds from the One Bay Area Grant, a federal program that is administered through the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Moving to a federal funding source, however, would mean that crossing guard contracts would also have to be federalized. Staff said that could result in an estimated 10% increase in crossing guard contracts.

“It’s a good topic for discussion on what we want to try to accomplish with the program and what it’s going to take to get there,” said Mill Valley Councilmember Urban Carmel, a member of the Transportation Authority of Marin board.