Campbell, Los Gatos and Saratoga after November 3: what the ballot changed for homeowners

If you live in Campbell, Los Gatos or Saratoga and you went looking for your city on the November 3 ballot, you didn't find it. None of the three put a city measure in front of voters this fall, and the county didn't either. It was a quiet election in our corner of the valley.

Quiet isn't the same as nothing. Two school districts that serve our three towns asked for money and, as of the latest count, are not getting it. A new open-space parcel tax from June is about to show up on Campbell tax bills. And Sacramento passed a state loan program aimed squarely at the kind of new townhomes Campbell has been building on every infill lot that will hold three stories.

Here's what moved, town by town, then countywide, then statewide.

A word about the numbers

Every November result here is unofficial. The figures come from the Registrar of Voters' November 4 afternoon update, about 82 percent of expected ballots for most measures. Nothing local has been formally called. The county certifies in early December. Where a measure is close enough to flip, I say so.

Campbell

No Campbell measure in November. Campbell's last city measure was the sales tax (Measure K) in 2024.

The new line on your tax bill: Open Space Authority Measure D (June 2026). Passed, 55.4%.

In June, voters approved a parcel tax for the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority: 2 cents per square foot of building, per year, with no end date and a $7,500 cap per parcel. Campbell is inside the Authority's boundary, along with San José, Milpitas, Santa Clara and Morgan Hill. A 2,000-square-foot Campbell home pays about $40 a year. Owners 65 and older, and certain disabled and low-income owners, can apply for an exemption.

$40 is about the price of a Saturday morning at the farmers' market if somebody in your family likes the good strawberries. It funds trails and land on the hills you can see from Hamilton Avenue.

Cambrian School District Measure Q: parcel tax. 64.4% yes. Failing (two-thirds needed).

Cambrian serves parts of Campbell and southwest San José. The measure asked for $148 per parcel a year for eight years, with a senior exemption. It is about 2 points short of two-thirds and very unlikely to make it up. For owners, that's $148 a year you won't pay. For families in the district, it's about $1 million a year the schools won't have. Expect it back on a future ballot. Parcel taxes that fail at 64 percent usually return, slightly retooled.

The regional transit tax (RTM) adds half a cent to Santa Clara County's sales tax for 14 years, mostly for BART, Caltrain and VTA. It is passing around 62 percent region-wide, and narrower (about 54 percent in early counting) in Santa Clara County. Campbell's light rail stops, from Winchester to Downtown Campbell to Hamilton, keep their service.

Los Gatos and Saratoga

Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District Measure N: $321 million bond. 53.8% yes. Failing (55% needed).

This would have paid for roofs, plumbing, electrical, safety work and new science and career classrooms at Los Gatos High and Saratoga High, and only those two schools. The cost: about $30 per $100,000 of assessed value a year.

It needs 55 percent and is at about 53.8, so roughly a point and a bit short with ballots still out. One data provider has it losing by a wider margin than the county's own update, which tells you how fluid the late count is. I'd call it unlikely, not impossible.

Why it matters for property: in Los Gatos and Saratoga, the high schools are part of the price of the house. Buyers pay for the attendance zone as much as the square footage. A bond that fails doesn't change that overnight. But deferred roofs and labs eventually come back as a bigger ask, and the district will almost certainly return with a revised measure.

To put the cost in day-to-day terms: if your home's assessed value is $1.5 million, Measure N would have been about $450 a year. If you've owned in Saratoga since the 1990s, much less. If you bought last spring, more.

No Los Gatos town or Saratoga city measure in November. Unlike Campbell, much of Los Gatos and Saratoga sits in the territory of the separate Midpeninsula open space district rather than the Open Space Authority, so June's Measure D may not appear on your bill. Check the line items on your 2027 statement; boundaries in the foothills are a patchwork.

Around the county

Cupertino Measure L: parks and open space protection. 87.8% yes. Passing.

Any rezoning of land designated as parks or open space for housing, commercial or industrial use will now need a two-thirds vote of Cupertino residents. No specific site is named. It quietly removes a category of land from future housing discussions in a city that is already short on land. For builders, that's a tighter map. For owners next to a park, it's reassurance that the park stays a park.

Los Altos Measure D: downtown parking plazas. 41.0% yes. Failing.

A citizen initiative to require a public vote before the city could sell, lease or redevelop any of its ten downtown parking lots. The state housing department warned Los Altos that passage would force it to rewrite its state-required housing plan, which counts those lots for 124 homes. Its defeat keeps downtown housing sites, and the city's standing with the state, intact.

School taxes and bonds

The pattern is hard to miss: four of six school funding measures in the county are failing, all within a few points of their thresholds. In June, Palo Alto Unified's parcel tax renewal also failed at 62 percent. San José's Franklin-McKinley district passed a $142 million bond.

Palo Alto Measure J, a half-cent sales tax meant to help the city buy seven acres of the Cubberley site, is at 51.2 percent and too close to call.

What Sacramento did

Prop 37: state loans for buyers of new homes. It passed with about 61 percent and was called by the Associated Press. The state housing finance agency can lend up to 17 percent of the price to buyers earning under 200 percent of area median income who put at least 3 percent down and will live in the home. The key condition: the buyer must be the first purchaser of a newly built home (or of a unit in a converted commercial building). Price caps run about $1 million to $1.5 million depending on county.

That describes, almost exactly, the three-story townhomes going up on small lots across Campbell. A buyer who's been $150,000 short on the down payment for a new townhome off Winchester or Union Avenue may suddenly not be. It doesn't help the 1955 ranch house, and it isn't limited to first-time buyers.

Prop 1: $11.25 billion for housing. It is passing around 60 percent. Most of it goes to affordable rentals, with about $1.1 billion for homeownership programs.

Prop 45: faster environmental review. It is losing, about 46 to 54, still uncalled. It would have put deadlines on reviews and court challenges for housing. If it fails as it's trending, nothing changes in how long it takes to get a project approved.

Prop 43, requiring two-thirds for citizen-initiated local taxes, is losing. It would only have applied after January 1, 2027, so June's Open Space tax (a citizen initiative that passed with a simple majority) is safe either way.

Props 40, 41 and 42, the billionaire wealth tax and its rivals, are trending toward the wealth tax failing. Real estate was excluded from that tax in any case.

Who feels what

Homeowners. In Campbell, a small new open-space line (about $40 a year on a typical house). In Los Gatos and Saratoga, no new tax, because the high school bond is falling short. Everywhere, your sales-tax receipts get half a cent heavier.

Buyers. New townhomes and condos just got a state down-payment partner. If you're shopping Campbell's new construction, ask about Prop 37 before you write. School funding uncertainty in Los Gatos-Saratoga and Cambrian is worth knowing, but it won't change the attendance-zone premium this year.

Investors. Nothing local changes rents or transfer costs in our three towns. Cupertino's open-space rule shrinks future land supply a little.

Renters. No new local rent rules here. Transit service holds.

Builders. Prop 37 creates buyers for for-sale new construction at Campbell's price points. Los Altos keeps its downtown sites. Cupertino's open space is off the table. Environmental review timelines stay as they are.

Honest limits

• The Los Gatos-Saratoga and Gilroy bonds, the Cambrian and Orchard parcel taxes and Palo Alto's sales tax are all within a few points of their thresholds with ballots still being counted.
• Exactly which Los Gatos and Saratoga parcels fall inside the Open Space Authority is a map question I'd verify on your own tax bill.
• Prop 37's rate, term and the exact Santa Clara County price cap will be set by the state agency later. Nothing is available to buyers yet.
• The bond cost examples use assessed value, which for long-time owners is far below market value. Your bill is your bill.

What to actually do

If you own in Campbell: look for the Open Space line on your 2027 bill. If you're 65 or older, apply for the exemption.

If you own in Los Gatos or Saratoga: nothing this year. Expect the high school district to come back with another bond. When it does, you'll know roughly what it costs you: about $30 a year per $100,000 of assessed value.

If you're buying: ask about Prop 37 on any new townhome or condo, and ask early. If schools drive your search, follow the Cambrian and Los Gatos-Saratoga districts' next steps, not just their test scores.

If you're undecided about selling: the measure that will matter most to Campbell sellers in 2027 is Prop 37. It helps buyers of brand-new townhomes compete with you. Price your resale with that in mind.

Results are unofficial as of the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters' November 4 afternoon update and state counts reported November 4–5. This article will be updated as the count is certified.

Tim McMullen · CA DRE #02016832
[email protected] · (415) 691-9272