What's at stake?
Fresno County’s current half-cent transportation sales tax, which has funded projects since 1986, is set to expire in June 2027.
The possibility that Fresno County voters will have to choose between rival transportation tax measures this November could be one step closer to reality.
At a Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, the board’s chair, Garry Bredefeld, instructed county staff to complete a legal and fiscal analysis of placing a countywide general sales tax on the November ballot — a tax he says could be used for “actually repairing and fixing roads, other capital projects, public safety” and other needs.
But the move comes exactly one day after a local coalition took the next step toward placing its own plan to replace Fresno County’s current half-cent transportation sales tax, Measure C, on the ballot.
That coalition of mayors, city councilmembers and advocates from Fresno, Clovis and the county’s west side filed a notice of intention with the clerk’s office on Monday to begin gathering signatures to qualify their sales tax proposal for the November ballot.
The group will need at least 22,000 signatures to qualify, but they’ve set a goal of collecting 35,000 by about April.
The race to put a transportation sales tax on the ballot roughly seven months from now comes as Measure C is set to expire in June 2027. Residents have been paying that half-cent sales tax since 1986.
The local coalition’s new plan is still for a half-cent sales tax, projected to generate approximately $7.4 billion for transportation investments over a 30-year lifespan. The plan sets aside 65% of those revenues, or about $4.8 billion, to fixing local roads, and 25%, or $1.8 billion, toward public transit.
Another 5% of the projected revenue will be set aside for regional projects, as well as 4% for new technologies. The remaining 1% will go toward administrative and oversight costs.
Those allocations, coalition leaders say, reflect the recommendations of over 4,000 county residents over the past year.
“It’s the people’s plan,” said Andy Levine, a Fresno Unified trustee and leader with the Transportation for All coalition, “that reflects the very clear, overwhelming priorities that were shared by residents and taxpayers all over Fresno County over the past year.”
These percentage allocations also match the plan that both a county steering committee, plus a majority of Fresno County mayors, gave their blessing to last year.
But not everyone was on board with that spending plan, including a handful of dissenting mayors and leaders, like Bredefeld from the County Board of Supervisors. He has taken issue with the plan for underspending on local roads and regional transportation projects while overspending on public transit.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Bredefeld questioned whether the coalition’s plan is really a “citizen-led” initiative since it mirrors a proposal that the Fresno Council of Governments’ steering committee put out.
Bredefeld also mentioned the possibility of litigation over the coalition’s plan.
Ballot initiatives brought forward by private citizen groups require only a simple majority of voters — 50% plus one — to pass, while government-backed initiatives must gain two-thirds approval.
“I would like to ask county counsel to research, investigate these issues and return with legal analysis,” Bredefeld said, “including potential litigation and/or prosecution.”
Leaders with the coalition didn’t respond to Bredefeld’s allegation but emphasized that the plan is based on Fresno County residents’ input.
“This plan is representative of the hundreds and thousands of people that participated. We appreciate their work, the work of the steering committee, the work of the mayors who provided input along the way,” said Veronica Garibay, a fellow leader with the Transportation for All coalition, “and the ultimate outcome here is that we now have a balanced plan that reflects priorities and input of everyone that was involved.”
As for the potential sales tax Bredefeld floated, it’s unclear how Fresno County’s state-mandated cap on sales tax could affect plans. Some cities in Fresno County already hover around the limit.
Doug Sloan, the county’s general counsel, said he could return with these analyses in 45 days, which would be mid-March.
