Tiburon Roads Hold Up, but Paving Money Runs Dry by FY 30-31

Tiburon's streets score a solid 75 on the industry's condition index, but the money that keeps them there is running out. At its Oct. 7, 2026, meeting, the Town Council received a State of the Pavement report projecting that restricted street funds will be largely depleted by fiscal year 2030-31. Council members also heard a county warning that El Niño and holiday king tides could combine to cause serious flooding this winter.

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• Pavement funding cliff: Restricted street funds are projected to run out by FY 30-31. The general fund may need to cover up to $1.6M a year.
• Roads rate PCI 75 today, but the repair backlog could grow from about $17M to $24M in a decade.
• Mayor questions sealing streets already rated in the 90s. Staff defends bundling work by neighborhood.
• County warns El Niño could raise sea levels 6 to 12 inches as king tides arrive on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
• $10,000 Harvest Festival request splits the council over diversity funding. The mayor abstained, and the outcome is unconfirmed.

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Good Roads, Shrinking Wallet

The basics: The Pavement Condition Index (PCI) is the standard score used to rate road surfaces. A slurry seal is a thin protective coat applied to streets in good condition. Rehabilitation is heavier repair work for worn streets.

Why it matters: Tiburon's paving program costs about $2.1M a year, but dedicated street revenue covers only about $875,000 of that. Once reserves run out, the council must find new revenue, dip into the general fund or let streets decline.

Where things stand: Joe Ryrie, consultant with Pavement Engineering, said the town maintains 36 centerline miles and more than 4 million square feet of pavement. That total excludes Tiburon Boulevard. The network's replacement value tops $180M.

"Right now, your system-wide average is 75," said Ryrie.

Arterials average 71, collectors 84 and residential streets 74. About 82% of the network scores above 60.

The revenue gap: Dedicated street money comes from four sources: SB 1/RMRA, HUTA gas tax, transportation sales tax and street impact fees. Patrick Kurslake of the Department of Public Works said that money falls well short of the program's cost.

"Our current projections indicate that the available restricted fund balances will be substantially depleted by FY 30-31," said Kurslake.

Four scenarios show what different spending levels would mean:

• $2.1M a year: PCI holds steady.
• $3.5M a year: PCI rises about one point a year.
• No spending: PCI drops to 68 within five years.
• $875,000 a year after year five: PCI slips about a point a year, and the backlog grows from roughly $17M. "At the end of 10 years, you would be upwards around $24 million," said Ryrie.

Costs are also rising. Drivers include heavier vehicles, state regulations and stormwater rules. ADA curb ramp upgrades alone consume 20% to 30% of paving dollars.

Councilmember Alice Fredericks raised one possible new funding source. "There recently was chaptered a state bill, 922, that allows little jurisdictions like us to do some recovery from waste and heavy vehicle damage to our pavements," she said. Ryrie said he was unfamiliar with the bill.

The other side: Mayor Jon Welner challenged the town's neighborhood-wide slurry approach. "It seemed to me wasteful to be focused on any streets that were in the 90s," he said.

Ryrie said the current schedule alternates slurry seals with rehabilitation projects:

• 2025: Paradise Drive
• 2026: West-side slurry seal
• 2028: East-side slurry seal
• 2029: Rehabilitation

Once the east-side slurry is finished, "the town won't have to do any slurry seal projects for quite a number of years," Ryrie said. He put that break at roughly five to six years, which would free money for the worst streets.

Kurslake added that bundling keeps neighborhoods consistent and simplifies phasing with contractors, including half-street work with flaggers on busier roads. Town Manager Greg Chanis clarified that complete streets are always done, just in phases.

Decisions and stakeholder impacts: No vote was taken. Staff recommended four steps:

• Continue updating the pavement management system.
• Keep the alternating slurry-and-rehabilitation strategy.
• Maintain critical point management.
• Explore additional funding sources.

Residents on low-rated streets depend on the rehabilitation cycle staying funded. If the general fund must absorb up to $1.6M a year, other town services could face pressure.

What's next: Within roughly five years, the council will need to decide how to pay for street maintenance once restricted reserves run out.

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County to Tiburon: Watch the Holidays

Why it matters: Shoreline towns like Tiburon face overlapping flood hazards this winter. Those hazards peak during holidays, when emergency staffing is thinnest.

Where things stand: Nick Brubaker, Chief Resilience Officer, Marin County Office of Emergency Management, said El Niño raises the odds of a wetter winter but does not guarantee one. The bigger concern is the baseline rise in sea level.

"We're going to see 6 to 12 inches of sea level rise just from the El Niño effect due to thermal expansion and those Kelvin waves," said Brubaker.

That rise could coincide with king tides on Thanksgiving and Christmas, plus possible storms or an atmospheric river. "If we see all of those things happen at the same time, we know we're going to see some significant flooding here in Marin," he said. He added that the first Kelvin wave has already begun arriving.

The county's toolkit:

• Sandbags: A countywide sandbag site lists 32 locations, including city and town sites.
• Hazard mapping: A Ready Marin El Niño page includes a parcel-level hazard mapper.
• Emergency plan: The 2026 Emergency Operations Plan, adopted in July, is the first countywide update since 2014. A 220-page redacted version is available at marincounty.gov/eop, along with a 12-page booklet.

Alert Marin upgrades: Residents can now opt into alert groups for coastal flooding and king tides, creek flooding, significant weather, prescribed burns and traffic disruptions. New features include a callback that replays missed alerts and messaging in English and Spanish.

Existing subscribers do not get the new categories automatically. "You have to go back in," Brubaker said. Logging in now uses a text code sent to your phone, with no password.

A new dashboard tracks sign-ups by jurisdiction, measured against a goal of one registered user per parcel.

Decisions and stakeholder impacts: The presentation was informational, and no action was taken. The dashboard gives Tiburon a tool to target outreach where sign-ups lag.

What's next: Town halls are scheduled for Oct. 19 at College of Marin in Kentfield and Oct. 21 at Mill Valley Community Center, with others pending. Welner said he expects "we'd have a supplemental report from town staff about anything that you need from us" on El Niño, possibly at the next meeting.

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Harvest Festival Tests Diversity Fund's Limits

Why it matters: The request would use $10,000 of the Diversity Inclusion Task Force's (DITF) $28,000 uncommitted balance for this fiscal year. It also raised the question of which events belong under a diversity program.

Where things stand: Staff reported that the task force recommended $10,000 for a children-focused Harvest Festival. The organizer was absent.

Fredericks pointed to an alternative source, the Marin Countywide Equity Collaborative. "The grants run from $10,000 to $250,000," she said, and she asked staff to follow up.

The other side: Welner said he would support a festive event. However, he noted that earlier DITF-funded events each celebrated a specific group's diversity, while the "Harvest Festival is just a party."

Fredericks suggested the event could include demonstrations of how different cultures celebrate the harvest.

Decisions and stakeholder impacts: Councilmember Holli Thier moved approval. Fredericks backed it conditionally: "I can support this with the proviso that we get better descriptions of what the events are that we're asked to fund."

The roll call:

• Yes: Fredericks, Councilmember Jack Ryan
• Abstain: Welner
• Absent: Vice Mayor Isaac Nikfar
• Unconfirmed: Thier's vote

The final result was not formally announced.

What's next: Residents seeking certainty should check the official minutes. Future DITF requests may face more scrutiny over event descriptions.

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• Consent calendar: The council approved its single consent item without discussion. For: 4 (Fredericks, Ryan, Thier, Welner), Against: 0, Absent: 1 (Nikfar).
• Reedland Woods Way: The street, rated PCI 41, is slated for the next paving project, with work anticipated by summer 2027. Kurslake said "the intention is to include that in the next project that we're hoping to start design on soon." Public commenter Tim Metz said he will keep attending meetings until the street is paved.
• Oct. 7 remembrance: A public commenter marked the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and asked to use part of their comment time for a moment of silence.

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Looking ahead: Watch for the supplemental staff report on El Niño readiness, possibly at the council's next meeting. Before the king tides arrive, residents can attend the county town halls on Oct. 19 and Oct. 21 and update their Alert Marin profiles to add the new alert categories.