San Anselmo homeowners who voted in March 2024 to leave Marin County’s Flood Control Zone 9 are still seeing the annual charge on their property tax bills — and now advocates want the money back. The argument pits residents who say the projects tied to their obligation have been canceled or stalled against county officials who say the fee survives the town’s exit.
The latest dispute, reported by CBS San Francisco, centers on an average charge of about $150 per year that homeowners began paying in 2007. The district has collected and spent roughly $48 million over nearly two decades, according to the report, while resident Ross Asselstine is calling for next year’s collection to stop and for fees collected since 2024 to be refunded.
The Town of San Anselmo confirms that voters approved Measure F in a March 5, 2024, special election to withdraw the town from Flood Zone 9. But the Marin County Flood Control District says the vote did not erase projects approved and funded before the withdrawal, which is why the fee remains on tax bills.
The Bridge Fight Made The Fee Personal
The dispute became especially heated over a bridge in downtown San Anselmo that supported a popular outdoor plaza. Marin County had sought to remove the structure as part of its flood-control plans, but CBS San Francisco reported that the bridge demolition was canceled after FEMA determined the obstruction could not be removed without increasing flood risk downstream.
Asselstine also points to a planned fish-ladder removal project in Ross that has been put on hold. He argues that because those projects are no longer moving forward, the obligations that justified continued fees after San Anselmo’s withdrawal have changed; Marin County Supervisor Brian Colbert, meanwhile, supports collecting the fee for its final year and says it applies to more than those two projects.
County Says The Fee Still Has A Final Year
The county’s published financial outlook says the Zone 9 storm-drainage fee expires in 2027, with the charge expected to disappear from property tax bills after February 1, 2027. The Marin County Flood Control District says the zone had about $4.8 million available for project costs in July 2025 and expects 2026 and 2027 fee revenue, along with grants, to cover remaining planned work.
That leaves San Anselmo residents with a familiar local-government question: whether a fee can keep flowing after the project that inspired the rebellion has effectively stopped. Asselstine says he would prefer a voluntary refund rather than a lawsuit, but the district has not announced that it will return the money.
