Fresno County supervisors block transportation tax from November ballot with 3-2 study vote

Three Fresno County supervisors voted July 14 to require a 30-day study of the Better Roads, Safe Streets transportation sales tax measure, a decision that will likely keep the measure off ballots until March 2028. Board Chair Garry Bredefeld, Supervisor Buddy Mendes, and Supervisor Nathan Magsig voted for the study. Supervisors Luis Chavez and Brian Pacheco voted against it.

The Better Roads measure sought to renew a half-cent sales tax for road and transportation projects. The current Measure C tax expires in 2027. County Public Works staff told the board that expiration without a replacement could result in roughly 90 county layoffs — road crews, engineers, and related positions.

Magsig, described by fellow supervisors as the deciding vote, said after more than an hour of questions that he found the measure “overly prescriptive” and worried it would invite litigation. “It’s so prescriptive on how the dollars have to be spent,” he said. “I’m concerned that we open ourselves up to litigation.”

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The vote drew immediate criticism from supporters who had packed the boardroom, including elected officials from cities across the county. Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer called the decision “voter suppression” outside the Hall of Records after the meeting. “They did not allow the voters to vote on something that I believe the voters should’ve been able to vote on,” Dyer said.

Mendota Mayor Victor Martinez called the board “racists” and Board Chair Bredefeld “Garry Bonaparte” as he left the meeting. “They didn’t stall this measure that belongs to the people today because they really need a study,” Martinez said. “They stalled it because they really just don’t like us. They don’t want us to fix our roads. The City of Mendota has been forgotten, and they never did (anything) about it.”

The measure still has a narrow path to the November ballot if county staff complete their study before the August 7 deadline and the board calls a special meeting to vote on placement. Staff told the board the study would likely take the full 30 days. A special meeting would require either Bredefeld as board chair or a majority of supervisors to call it.

Better Roads campaign spokesperson Andy Levine, a Fresno Unified trustee, said the campaign is not considering litigation. “They intentionally waited until today to start this as a way to run out the clock on the Aug. 7 deadline for ballot placement,” Levine said. The measure was filed January 26.

A handful of mayors and consultants spoke in favor of the delay. Political consultant Alex Tavlian spoke on behalf of San Joaquin Valley Taxpayers Association. Tavlian had previously been involved with a group that announced plans to gather signatures for a rival ballot measure, though the status of that effort was not discussed at the meeting.

The Breakdown

• The Better Roads, Safe Streets measure would renew a half-cent sales tax for transportation projects. The current Measure C expires in 2027.
• Supervisors Garry Bredefeld, Buddy Mendes, and Nathan Magsig voted to require a 30-day study before placing the measure on the ballot. Supervisors Luis Chavez and Brian Pacheco voted to place it on the November ballot without the study.
• The study requirement effectively blocks the measure from the November 2026 ballot unless staff finish early and the board calls a special meeting before the August 7 deadline. The next available election would be March 2028.
• County staff projected roughly 90 layoffs if Measure C expires without a replacement — positions including road crews and engineers.

What This Means for You

Fresno County voters will not vote on a transportation tax renewal in November unless the board calls a special meeting before August 7 — a meeting that would require either Board Chair Bredefeld, who opposed the measure, or a majority of supervisors to convene. Without that, the earliest you could vote on replacing Measure C is March 2028, six months after the current tax expires. County staff say expiration without a replacement means 90 layoffs and reduced road maintenance capacity starting in 2027.

What You Can Do

A majority of the Board of Supervisors has the power under state law to call a special meeting before the August 7 ballot deadline. Contact Supervisors Luis Chavez and Brian Pacheco, who voted to place the measure on the ballot, or Supervisor Nathan Magsig, identified as the deciding vote, to ask whether they will call a special meeting to reconsider placement.

What to Watch

The stated reason for the study — that the measure is “overly prescriptive” and could invite litigation — raises the question of what changed between January, when the measure was filed, and July, when the study was ordered. A board majority had six months to request this study and chose to do so two weeks before the ballot deadline. That timing is either coincidence or strategy.

The other question is what happens if the study comes back clean. If county staff find no legal barrier to the measure and the board still declines to call a special meeting, the stated concern about litigation stops being the reason and becomes the excuse. Watch whether the study produces a finding that justifies the delay or whether the delay was always the point.