Contributions have rolled in to committees supporting and opposing rent-control measures on Marin’s November ballot.

Sizable donations were also received by committees supporting a Tamalpais Union High School District bond measure and two candidates vying to replace Supervisor Katie Rice in District 2. The reporting period began July 1 and ended Sept. 21.

Voters in Larkspur, San Anselmo and Fairfax will weigh in on measures related to rent control. So far, the Larkspur contest has had the biggest infusion of cash. Voters there will decide whether to make the rent-control ordinance they narrowly upheld in March stricter while also adding tenant protections.During the same finance reporting period, Marin Residents for Protecting Larkspur’s Future, which opposes making the rent-control ordinance stricter, received over $107,000 in contributions. These included a $45,000 contribution from Hummingbird Hill; $45,000 from John Atwater, founder and chief executive officer of Prime Group; and $15,000 from the California Apartment Association.

Hummingbird Hill Limited Partnership lists Andrea Schultz, a prominent Marin businesswoman, as its agent to contact. It spent over $91,000 getting a referendum on Larkspur’s rent-control ordinance placed on the March ballot. Hummingbird also contributed an additional $200,000 in that effort to prevent Larkspur’s rent-control ordinance from being implemented. The campaign failed, however, and rent control went into effect.

Atwater’s Prime Group owns and manages more than $15 billion in real estate assets nationwide. Prime Skylark LLC, a Prime Group subsidiary, purchased Skylark Apartments, a 455-apartment complex in Larkspur, in 2022. Soon after, tenants reported receiving lease renewal notices with 8.8% rent increases, plus new charges for utilities.

“We have John Atwater to thank for pointing out that state rent control was not enough,” Jen Snyder, co-founder of Red Bridges, the political consulting firm advising the committees backing rent control in all three municipalities, said in an email. “He upped the rent to the max amount for years in a row. It’s corporate landlords like this that brought the tenant movement on in Marin.”

Grace Alidadi, a spokeswoman for the Prime Group, wrote in an email, “Prime Residential opposes this misleading and harmful measure, which will hurt the city of Larkspur, renters and homeowners alike. An independent study prepared for the city found that Measure K is ‘not an affordable housing policy’ — in fact, it will reduce the affordable housing supply, property values and critical funding for the city’s essential services.”

“Renters are better served by individual need-based rent relief programs, such as those offered by Skylark,” Alidadi said, “and by the current rent-control ordinance, which goes beyond existing state law.”

Prime Residential owns and operates more than 19,000 multifamily apartments and townhomes on the West Coast.

While different committees have formed in all three municipalities to support and oppose the rent-control measures, the committees on both sides of the issue are coordinating their efforts.

“Basically, the pro-rent control effort is being managed by the Democratic Socialists of America under whatever name they’re operating under,” said Michael Burke, an agent at Golden Gate Sotheby’s International Realty and one of the leaders of the anti-rent-control faction.

Snyder helped found the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter in San Francisco. A co-founder of Red Bridges, Avery Yu, touts her membership in the Democratic Socialists of America on its website. “I don’t think it’s unfair to say we’re playing a prominent role;” said Curt Ries, leader of the Marin Democratic Socialists of America, “but it’s also fair to say other organizations are too.” Ries said these organizations include the North Bay Labor Council, the Marin Democratic Party and the Sierra Club.

Michael Sexton, director of Marin Residents, a nonprofit composed of homeowners, heads committees opposing rent control in both Fairfax and San Anselmo. Sexton said in those municipalities most of the anti-rent control support has come from small donors while the pro-rent side has received large contributions from unions.

The Keep Larkspur Fair and Affordable committee, which is working to pass the measure making Larkspur’s rent-control ordinance stricter, received $13,587 during the reporting period. That included a $5,000 contribution from the California Nurses Association, $5,000 from the Service Employees International Local (SEIU) 1021 and $1,666 from the Marin Association of Public Employees (MAPE). The committee has raised $58,731 so far this year. “The cost of housing is a significant challenge for many of our members and all working people,” Rollie Katz, MAPE’s executive director, said in an email. “Rents are too damn high.”

In Fairfax, residents will vote on Measure I, which would repeal the rent control and renter protections that the Town Council approved in 2022.

Three committees have formed to back Measure I. The Yes on Keep Fairfax Fair Act committee has raised $1,956 so far this year. The Support the Keep Fairfax Fair Act committee, which also backs Measure I, received $20,000 during the reporting period. That included a $15,000 contribution from the California Apartment Association and a $3,200 contribution from Philip Welch, an attorney. The committee has collected $28,200 so far this year.

The Marin Residents committee, another backer of Measure I, collected $10,030 in contributions during the period — the largest amounting to $3,000 — and has collected $29,598 so far this year.

Save Fairfax Rent Control, which opposes Measure I, received $14,957 in contributions during the period and has received $30,938 so far this year. Its contributions over the last three months have included $4,500 from the California Nurses Association and $1,666 from MAPE.

In San Anselmo, residents will vote on two companion measures. Measure N would enact a rent-control ordinance approved by the Town Council by a 3-2 vote in April, and Measure O would penalize landlords of properties with three or more dwellings who terminate a tenancy due to no fault of the tenant.

The Fair and Affordable San Anselmo committee, which backs both Measure N and Measure O, received $13,646 in contributions during the reporting period, including gifts of $5,000 from the California Nurses Association and $1,666 from MAPE. The committee has raised $23,872 so far this year.

The Marin Residents Against Extra Rent Control committee, the only committee formed to oppose Measures N and O, has reported raising no money so far this year, while spending $4,687.

Rent control isn’t the only local issue to attract campaign contributions in recent months. The Committee for Safe and Modern Tamalpais Union High School District Schools collected over $86,000 during the reporting period. The committee has now accumulated over $186,000 in contributions so far this year.

Contributions during the reporting period included: $9,999 each from the Redwood High School Foundation, Tam High Foundation and Quattrocchi Kwok Architects; a $9,800 contribution from the Mill Valley Schools Community Foundation; and a $5,000 contribution from the Archie Williams High School Falcon Foundation.

In the District 2 race for county supervisor, Heather McPhail Sridharan continues to hold a slight edge in contributions received over opponent Brian Colbert. McPhail Sridharan collected $32,099 during the period and has raised about $199,000 to date. Colbert received $18,934 during the period and has raised about $165,934 to date.