Craig S Taylor
Candidate for City Council (At-Large), Portola Valley · Town Council Member
Craig Taylor is a retired high-technology executive who has lived in Portola Valley for nearly 40 years. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine. He served on the Portola Valley Planning Commission starting in 2018 and later on the town's Open Space Acquisition Committee and Trails and Paths Committee, and he volunteers with the Bay Area Mountain Rescue unit. He was elected to the Portola Valley Town Council in 2022, served as vice mayor in 2025, and was selected by his council colleagues to serve as mayor for 2026.
Positions in brief
Taylor's priorities center on stabilizing Portola Valley's town finances, including retaining staff amid a structural budget deficit, and building consensus on a single new revenue measure headed to voters in November 2026.
As the town confronts a projected $700,000 annual structural deficit driven by rising public-safety costs and cost-of-living raises for staff, Taylor has supported a roughly 3% cost-of-living adjustment for town employees, saying retention matters and that past cuts to office hours and services are not the long-term vision he has for the town. On new revenue, Taylor has cautioned against combining several small tax or fee measures, warning that 'layering' options together risks failure, and has said the town should instead aim for a single measure large enough to generate roughly $1.5 million a year for services, staffing, and emergency reserves.
On the issues
- Taxes & Cost of Living
Supports pursuing one substantial new revenue measure rather than several smaller ones, sized to generate roughly $1.5 million a year for town services and reserves.
“a recipe for failure”
Source → - Government, Elections & Democracy
Supports a roughly 3% cost-of-living raise for town staff to aid retention despite the town's budget deficit.
“COLA and merit is part of retention and also we don't have extra money to spend”
Source →
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