Fresno County Supervisors Order Study of Transportation Tax, Likely Delaying Vote Until 2028

The Fresno County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to order a 30-day impact study of the Better Roads, Safe Streets transportation tax initiative, a decision that will likely prevent the measure from appearing on the November ballot and delay a vote until 2028.

Supervisors Garry Bredefeld, Buddy Mendes and Nathan Magsig voted in favor of the study, with Supervisors Luis Chavez and Brian Pacheco voting against it. The vote came less than a week after Fresno County Registrar of Voters James Kus confirmed the initiative had gathered the roughly 21,000 signatures required to qualify for the ballot and presented a certificate of sufficiency for the measure.

The proposed half-cent sales tax measure was crafted as a replacement for Measure C, which is scheduled to expire in 2027 and has long provided funding for transportation and infrastructure projects throughout the county.

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Bredefeld defended the delay, saying the board has a responsibility to independently evaluate the long-term effects of the proposed tax. “The measure is full of promises about street and road repair that will not happen. It’s really a public transportation tax disguised as a roads tax,” Bredefeld said.

Magsig said he felt the measure was overly prescriptive to the county. “It’s so prescriptive on how the dollars have to be spent,” Magsig said. “I’m concerned that we open ourselves up to litigation.”

The meeting drew a packed crowd and, at times, heated exchanges. Supporters gathered outside the Hall of Records after the vote expressing frustration with the outcome. “I think this is voter suppression, quite frankly,” Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said, “because they did not allow the voters to vote on something that I believe the voters should’ve been able to vote on.”

Mendota Mayor Victor Martinez called the board “racists” and the board chair “Garry Bonaparte.” “They didn’t stall this measure that belongs to the people today because they really need a study. They stalled it because they really just don’t like us. They don’t want us to fix our roads,” he said outside the Hall of Records.

Chavez opposed delaying the measure and said failure to approve a replacement funding source could result in about 90 county employees losing their jobs, citing projections from county Public Works staff that the expiration of Measure C in 2027 without a replacement lined up could result in roughly 90 layoffs of county staff, including anyone from county road crews to engineers.

The deadline to qualify the measure for the November election is Aug. 7. County staff told the board the study would likely take the full 30 days allotted. After that, the board would have to call a special meeting prior to the Aug. 7 deadline to place the measure on the ballot — a responsibility that resides with board chair Bredefeld. Under state law, a majority of supervisors also have the power to call for a special meeting.

Campaign spokesperson Andy Levine, also a Fresno Unified trustee, said the campaign was not considering litigation against the county board. “We are incredibly disappointed in the failure of the majority of supervisors to perform their ministerial duty. Of course they had the option of a 30-day study. They’ve had the option of a 30-day study since Jan. 26 of this year, when we filed our measure,” he said. “They intentionally waited until today to start this as a way to run out the clock on the Aug. 7 deadline for ballot placement.”

The campaign released an economic analysis prepared by Fresno-based economic advisory firm PenberaParis LLC projecting the measure would generate more than 68,190 jobs over 30 years along with $13.46 billion in total economic output, $7.71 billion in value added to the Fresno County economy, more than $5.06 billion in labor income and nearly $2.9 billion in household spending.

The Breakdown

• The Better Roads, Safe Streets initiative is a proposed half-cent sales tax to replace Measure C, the existing transportation funding measure that expires in 2027.
• After gathering roughly 21,000 signatures to qualify for the ballot, the measure was certified as sufficient by the county registrar of voters.
• Instead of placing it on the November ballot, three supervisors voted to order a 30-day impact study, citing concerns about the measure’s language and how funding would be allocated.
• The deadline to qualify for the November ballot is Aug. 7, and county staff indicated the study would likely take the full 30 days.
• After the study, the board chair or a majority of supervisors would need to call a special meeting before Aug. 7 to place the measure on the ballot.
• If the measure misses the November ballot, it would next be eligible in the March 2028 primary election.

What This Means for You

If Measure C expires in 2027 without a replacement, county projections indicate about 90 county transportation employees could lose their jobs, and there would be no dedicated funding source for road repairs, street maintenance, and public transportation projects throughout Fresno County. Whether you get to vote on this replacement measure in November now depends on whether county staff can complete their study and supervisors schedule a special meeting before the Aug. 7 ballot deadline.