County Supervisors Block November Vote on Roads Tax — Mayors Push Back

The Fresno County Board of Supervisors voted July 14 to delay the Better Roads, Safe Streets half-cent sales tax measure until March 2028, sparking protests from residents, mayors, and at least one supervisor.

Around a hundred people rallied July 30 at Herndon and Clovis Avenue demanding the board “let us vote.” They want the measure on this November’s ballot.

The board requested a 30-day study of the measure’s impact. State law requires the board to approve ballot placement once that study is done. But the statewide deadline for November ballot measures is August 7. The board’s next scheduled meeting isn’t until August 11.

Supporters have asked for a special meeting before the deadline.

Eleven of the county’s 15 mayors — everyone except Kingsburg, Selma, Reedley, and Sanger — sent a letter July 24 calling the delay profoundly disappointing. “You have an opportunity to right this wrong, not just for our roads, but for the basic democratic principle that the people should decide the issues that shape their future,” the letter said. “Reverse course.”

Fresno County had more than 527,000 registered voters in the June primary, according to the California Secretary of State.

The measure would fund local road repairs, sidewalks, and bike lanes. Proponents say cities can’t afford to fix neighborhood streets otherwise. Critics say it gives too much to transit, not enough to regional projects, and restricts how cities can spend the money.

Fresno resident Jim Grant, who spent a year working on the initiative and gathering signatures, said the delay “makes no democratic sense.” He thought he was getting something on the November 2026 ballot for half a million people to vote on. Now the board has put that off for a year and a half.

Marinarde Soto, a southeast Fresno resident, said potholes in her neighborhood get quick fixes that reopen within a week. “There’s a clear difference between southeast Fresno, southwest Fresno and north Fresno, and the money to create great infrastructure in Fresno County is there. The board of supervisors is just sitting on it.”

She recalled photographing Edison High School in 2019 for a Dolores Huerta Foundation project, showing where the sidewalk ends and students walk alongside traffic. “Literally kids are getting hit by cars because of our unsafe roads,” Soto said.

The Breakdown

• The Better Roads, Safe Streets measure is a citizen-led ballot initiative for a half-cent sales tax to fund road repairs, sidewalks, and bike lanes across Fresno County.
• The Fresno County Board of Supervisors voted July 14 to request a 30-day study before placing the measure on the ballot.
• The statewide deadline for November 2026 ballot measures is August 7. The board’s next meeting is August 11.
• Supporters want a special meeting before August 7 to get the measure on this November’s ballot. Without one, the measure won’t appear until March 2028.
• Eleven mayors across the county sent a letter July 24 asking the board to reverse course and let voters decide this November.

What This Means for You

Whether you’ll vote on a roads tax this fall — or whether you’ll vote on it at all — is in the hands of supervisors who voted for the delay. The measure was designed to let you decide if you want to fund local road repairs and safety improvements with a half-cent sales tax. That vote was supposed to happen in three months. Now it’s been pushed to March 2028, unless the board calls a special meeting before August 7.

If the measure does get on a ballot and you vote yes, you’re approving a sales tax increase. If you vote no, you’re saying the county should find another way to fund roads — or leave them as they are.

What You Can Do

The board’s next scheduled meeting is August 11, after the deadline. Supporters are asking the board to call a special meeting before August 7. You can contact the Fresno County Board of Supervisors to tell them whether you want that special meeting called.

What to Watch

The stated reason for the delay is a study. The actual effect is that supervisors decided whether half a million registered voters get to vote on this, and when. That’s not how ballot measures are supposed to work — a citizen initiative exists specifically to go around elected officials who won’t act.

The question worth asking: why did the board wait until two weeks before the deadline to request a study that takes 30 days? If the study was necessary, they’ve had months to order it. If it wasn’t necessary, ordering it now guarantees the measure misses November without the board having to vote it down directly.

Eleven mayors signed a letter saying this looks like an end-run around letting people vote. Watch whether the board calls that special meeting, or whether the measure stays buried until 2028 — if it survives that long.