Fill the Seat — Write Your Letter

How your letter gets built

1

Tick your opinions. Every box you tick becomes a paragraph of your letter, in the first person. Untick it, and it never appears. We put no words in your mouth.

2

Estimate your cost. The calculator below turns your square footage into your personal tax bill — and, if you choose, adds it to your letter as its own paragraph.

3

Tell us where you live. The Marin Healthcare District has five divisions. Your address or town decides which director receives your letter. Division 1 is vacant — those letters (and any without an address) go to the Board Chair.

4

Pick what stands out about Dr. Hess. His bio appears in your letter only in the details you choose — pick one, several, or none at all.

5

You edit, then you send. The letter appears in an editable box. Change anything. Then email it to your director (copy to the campaign), or copy or print it. Nothing sends unless you send it.

Step 1 · What would it cost you?

The 30-Year Tax, at Your Address

$0.14 per square foot of improved building, every year, for thirty years, no sunset. Renters pay through the rent; businesses pay on their storefront. Full calculator with sliders →

I am a…

Home size (sq ft)

Your estimated bill

$210/yr

$6,300 over 30 years

Add my cost estimate to my letter — it becomes a paragraph in your own voice.

Step 2 · Your opinions, your letter

Tick What You Actually Agree With

THE ASK: I am asking the board to appoint Dr. Clay Hess to the vacant Division 1 seat at the next meeting, August 11.

Open each group. Every ticked box becomes one paragraph. To keep your letter to one page, it includes your first five ticks (plus the Ask, your cost estimate, and your own words).

My health and my wealth

Health follows wealth — Harvard research (JAMA, 2016) found the richest Americans live 10–15 years longer than the poorest. Taxing my budget IS a health decision. Every dollar it takes from me is a dollar not spent on groceries, checkups, or the dentist. The surest path to a healthier community is leaving family budgets intact. Raising my cost of living 'for my health' gets the science backwards — take wealth, lose health.

My bills

~$260 a year for 30 years — nearly $8,000 — is too much for one more tax. We already pay premiums, co-pays, and ~$16M/year in existing hospital bond taxes. Levied on buildings, it reaches renters and small tenants through the rent. Nearly every other county parcel tax offers senior/low-income relief. This one doesn't. No sunset means my grandchildren pay for a decision made before they were born. On a fixed income, $260 a year is a month of groceries — not a rounding error.

My care

I'd rather fund evening clinic hours and preventive care near me than a building fund dated 2056. Nothing in this tax promises me shorter waits, closer care, or a smaller bill. Telling me what a visit costs before I walk in would help my health more than this tax. My care should improve because the hospital runs better — not because my taxes went up.

My say

Please fill the Division 1 seat on August 11. Leaving it empty through November serves no one. A board governing a $600M health system should not decide this measure's fate one member short. I would like at least one director with no financial relationship to MarinHealth. Please confirm publicly that the Government Code 1780 vacancy notice has been posted. A hospital that finished the year $24M ahead is not out of money. Executive pay of $2,084,686 in one year is not consistent with asking taxpayers for more. Named for the ER, justified by retrofitting, written to fund almost anything — that's misleading. A 30-year special tax should not pass at 50%+1 when a government-sponsored one needs two-thirds.

Health–wealth finding: Chetty R, et al. “The Association Between Income and Life Expectancy in the United States, 2001–2014.” JAMA. 2016;315(16):1750–1766 — Harvard-led analysis of 1.4 billion tax and mortality records. Harvard Gazette summary →

What stands out to you about Dr. Hess? (pick any — only what you pick appears)

Board-certified radiation oncologist · Harvard master's in public health Independent physician · zero financial ties to MarinHealth Physician-scientist · dozens of peer-reviewed publications Built his own medical practice — enterprise, not administration "The audit: unbought, independent, clinically fluent"

More at About Dr. Hess. Pick nothing and your letter simply carries no biography paragraph.

In my own words (optional — the paragraph that gets read aloud)

Step 3 · Who receives it

Your name

Street address

Your email (optional)

Your town or neighborhood

One district, five divisions: the Marin Healthcare District is the whole map; Divisions 1–5 are the seats within it. Division 1 addresses are checked against 3,760 real county parcel records in your browser.

📍 Check the official division map

Marin Healthcare District — 2022 approved division map · official copy at marinhealthcare.org

By generating a letter you share the details above with the campaign so we can track support for the appointment. We never share your address, and we send nothing on your behalf — you send the letter yourself.