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Isla Vista, CA – The Isla Vista Community Services District Board of Directors approved a resolution on June 23rd, 2026 placing the Increased Municipal Infrastructure & Services Measure on the November 2026 ballot. If approved by voters the measure will raise $1,200,000 annually, controlled locally, to fund local improvements to: housing services; community based public safety; transportation, parking, and public transit; clean and safe public spaces, including lighting and sidewalks; and community facilities and events.
The measure will be a Utility User’s Tax, 6% on trash, water, electricity, and sewage and 7% on methane. The measure also allows for the creation of exemptions, including provisions for low-income residents, that the Board may take up at a public meeting this year.
IVCSD worked with the community to identify many infrastructure needs and service needs that do not currently have funding sources. These include: unarmed response to non-violent offenses on Friday/Saturday nights, IV resident parking permits, fully lighting Isla Vista at night, completing our sidewalk network, improving the Loop and supporting our businesses, Isla Vista cityhood, stabilizing and growing our buses and public transit, and continuing Soltopia.
In November 2016, Isla Vista voters overwhelmingly approved the creation of the Isla Vista Community Services District with more than 87% support. In 2018, voters approved a Utility Users Tax with 84% of the vote, which has served as the District’s primary local funding source.
IVCSD now provides many essential community services and delivered on creating a centralized resource hub for survivors of sexual assault, winning nearly $1 million in funding for lighting and sidewalk improvements, creating Isla Vista’s first mobility plan, opposing the County’s ban on music during Deltopia and hosting Soltopia to save the music, launching housing legal advice services for all Isla Vista residents, cleaning the streets year round and especially during move out, opening the Isla Vista Community Center, and starting the Isla Vista cityhood process.
“Our community has many needs, and we need to take it into our own hands to meet them,” said Katherine Carmichael, Board President. “This measure gives Isla Vistans the ability to decide Isla Vista’s future instead of leaving it up to others.”
“Since its creation, IVCSD has accomplished a lot for Isla Vista, and we know there is so much more to be done,” said Jonathan Abboud, General Manager. “We are ready to continue delivering for our community.”
Additional information regarding the measure, including the expenditure plan, tax rates, and voter information, will be made available to the public in advance of the November election.
