SANTA CLARA COUNTY’S three-month sprint to raise sales taxes could stage a showdown between one of California’s most progressive Board of Supervisors and one of the state’s most centrist Democrats.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan has declined to state his position on Santa Clara County’s proposed five-eighths cent sales tax increase measure, which county supervisors are asking voters to approve in the Nov. 4 special election. They argue the general tax increase will help keep California’s second largest public health care system alive amid massive federal spending cuts.
County leaders hope they can work through their dismal relationship with Mahan and get his support asking voters to pay more for retail purchases — in order to bring roughly $330 million in new annual revenue to the county until 2031.
But Mahan may have a set of conditions, according to sources close to the county and mayor who asked not to be named to speak freely.
The politically moderate face of Silicon Valley’s capital has long argued Santa Clara County leaders aren’t doing enough to help his city solve its homelessness, mental health and substance use crisis. Mahan’s argument is San Jose spends more than surrounding cities on the issue. He spoke out against the county ending a program that kept police involved in responding to mental health emergencies. He has clashed with county leaders over his plan to arrest homeless people who refuse multiple offers of shelter. And most recently, he cast doubt on the county’s capacity to run four public hospitals and 15 health clinics.
“I personally don’t know that the county can run four public hospitals. Our county’s got almost as many public health public hospital beds under management as the county of Los Angeles,” Mahan said at an Aug. 8 town hall with District 2 Supervisor Betty Duong. “I don’t know if that’s sustainable.”
County Executive James Williams said it’s in San Jose’s interest to support the hospitals. Three of the county’s four hospitals are located in San Jose, including the county’s level I and II trauma centers.
“Any county hospital closure or reduction in health care services will have a devastating impact on San Jose residents,” Williams told San José Spotlight. “Minutes matter in an emergency, and this is ultimately an issue of life or death for our residents.”
Wooing the mayor
Michael Elliott, executive director of nonprofit Valley Health Foundation, which was set up to fundraise and lobby for the county health care system, is chairing the campaign committee in support of the county ballot measure. Elliott said he’s optimistic Mahan can come to their corner.
“The relationship between the county and city of San Jose has always been a complicated one, but I think we can also remember that there’s a lot we agree on. I think this is clearly one of those issues,” Elliott told San José Spotlight. “Public safety is obviously important to the mayor and I think the mayor will agree that the idea of losing a hospital and losing an emergency department in San Jose is an unacceptable risk to public safety.”
Elliott said this could be an opportunity for the county and city to repair relations.
“My hope is this is an opportunity to work collaboratively in the public interest,” he said. “If that begets more collaboration, all the better.”
“The relationship between the county and city of San Jose has always been a complicated one, but I think we can also remember that there’s a lot we agree on. I think this is clearly one of those issues.” Michael Elliott, Valley Health Foundation
Sources said it’d be hard for Mahan to support the tax measure without tangible changes to the county’s investments in San Jose. That doesn’t mean there’s no hope for dialogue. While Mahan has courted anti-tax, pro-business conservatives toward his political base, he doesn’t always say “No” to tax measures.
On the same day county leaders voted to put their five-eighths cent general sales tax increase measure on the Nov. 4 special election ballot, Mahan cast a “Yes” vote as vice chair of the VTA board of directors to opt into Senate Bill 63. The bill would allow transit agencies or voter initiatives to put a regional half-cent sales tax on the 2026 ballot. VTA employees projected the tax could bring in $264 million annually over its 14-year span — an enticing financial boost as the transit agency grapples with looming multimillion-dollar deficits.
Mayor picks his battles
“This (county sales) tax measure goes against what his base wants,” Bob Staedler, a principal at San Jose-based land use and development consulting firm Silicon Valley Synergy, told San José Spotlight. “I don’t know if it politically works for him — he likes to be the enemy of the status quo and the standard Democrat, and him picking a fight with the county has not caused him any issue with his base.”
Staedler said Mahan garnered his base by selling himself as a back-to-basics leader stopping frivolous spending and addressing core issues like homelessness, public safety and street cleanliness.
“His base that is most enthusiastic about what he’s doing — how will they respond to that?” Staedler said.
Conservative anti-tax organizers in Silicon Valley expect Mahan in their corner.
“Clearly his stance should be opposed if he wants to be fiscally responsible,” Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association President Mark Hinkle, who said he plans on campaigning against the county measure, told San José Spotlight.
Contact Brandon Pho at brandon@sanjosespotlight.com or @brandonphooo on X.
This story originally appeared in San Jose Spotlight.