Fresno’s critical transportation tax has enough signatures for the November ballot — but there’s one more hurdle

It’s official: One plan to replace Fresno County’s 40-year transportation sales tax measure has met the minimum number of signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Fresno County Clerk James Kus confirmed in an email that the Better Roads, Safe Streets campaign crossed that significant hurdle as of Wednesday afternoon.

Now, it’s onto the July 14 Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting, where the supervisors — some of whom have long criticized Better Roads and sought an alternative Measure C successor plan — have only a handful of legal options on how to respond to the plan, although one of those options could delay the measure from landing on the November ballot.

It was a slightly bumpier road than expected for the Better Roads campaign to reach this point. In late May, they learned that their measure didn’t meet the mark to pass the much quicker random sample test of the roughly 32,500 signatures they’d collected. Instead, they would need to pass a full count — a process requiring the clerk to validate just shy of 22,000 signatures while also contending with other responsibilities, such as administering the June 2 primary election.

That left a quick turnaround for the clerk to get through those signatures in time to also present a “Certificate of Sufficiency” to the county supervisors, allowing them to take their required ministerial vote on the measure.

But the campaign remained confident it would hit the mark and celebrated Wednesday’s news as a reflection of the “clear desire from voters who want to see this on the ballot.”

“Better Roads, Safe Streets brings together one of the broadest coalitions Fresno County has seen — community leaders, business, labor, local elected officials, and residents — united around a practical, locally controlled plan to address our transportation needs,” said Clovis Mayor Vong Mouanoutoua in a statement shared by the Better Roads campaign. “This measure is about fixing roads, improving safety, strengthening infrastructure, and making long-term investments that benefit every community in Fresno County.

“The thousands of residents who signed on to support this effort have earned the right to see Better Roads Safe Streets placed before voters in November.”

Now, the supervisors have only a narrow set of moves they can make come Tuesday. They could pass a resolution allowing the measure to appear on the November ballot. Or, they could order a study on the impact of the proposed measure to be completed by Aug. 13 and subsequently call an election.

But the latter option could push the board’s ministerial vote past the Aug. 7 deadline for measures to land on the November ballot.

And at least the chairman of the board of supervisors remains skeptical and suspicious. Supervisor Garry Bredefeld, one of the biggest critics of the Better Roads plan, said he wants the county to do its “due diligence.”

“There are many issues and questions regarding how this extremely dishonest and radical tax measure will adversely affect our constituents throughout Fresno County for the next 30 years,” Bredefeld said in a statement late Wednesday. “This proposed tax scam was developed by environmental wackos and is really a public transportation tax disguised as a roads tax. I support the County doing its due diligence and analysis in order to protect our citizens. I don’t know what other Board members will do but many have publicly expressed similar concerns.”

Once the supervisors take their ministerial vote, the plan will then need the support of a simple majority of county voters, or fifty-percent-plus-one, in order to pass.

Wednesday’s development follows a tumultuous few years in the world of Fresno County regional transportation planning as leaders have scrambled to put together a united vision of what the next several decades of transportation spending should look like. 

That included a 2022 failure at the ballot box to pass a previous attempt at a Measure C renewal plan before the tax measure expires in 2027.

There was also a time in early 2025 when county voters were staring down the possibility of having as many as three rival Measure C successor plans to choose from, although that field narrowed over the past few months.