Fresno State tax backers turn in signatures. Will initiative qualify for November ballot?

A proposed Fresno County tax that would benefit Fresno State academic and athletics programs took a large step toward the November ballot on Wednesday when the county clerk certified a portion of more than 39,000 petition signatures in support of the measure.

“I will be taking an item to the Board of Supervisors on Aug. 9 to certify that fact and provide them with materials to take this initiative measure to the electorate,” Fresno County Clerk and Registrar of Voters James Kus said.

The board will have three options with the initiative at its regularly scheduled meeting: send it to the November election; hold a special election a week or so after the November election; or order a fiscal review of the proposal to be reported back to the board within 30 days.

If the board requests a review, the tax measure will not make the November election, missing an Aug. 12 deadline to make the ballot.

“In that case, their choices would be a special election 90 to 100 or so days after that board meeting or the next statewide election, which would right now be March of 2024,” Kus said.

Tim Orman, the former chief of staff for Fresno mayors Jerry Dyer and Lee Brand and a longtime political consultant who was hired to lead the effort, is confident the measure will make the November ballot.

“I expect that they will vote to put it on the ballot and let the voters of Fresno County make the final decision,” Orman said.

Richard Spencer leads tax proponents

The Fresno State Improvement Zone Committee, which is led by construction company owner Richard Spencer, has proposed increasing the county’s sales and use tax by 0.2%. It would apply to the gross receipts of all retailers’ sales or all tangible personal property sold at retail in the county, and to the sales price of tangible personal property purchased from any retailers for the storage, use or other consumption in the county of that property.

In Reedley, the tax would be 0.025%.

The tax would run for 20 years and generate an estimated annual average of $36 million with a stated use to expand the nursing, agriculture, criminology and engineering/STEM programs at the university, provide scholarships for local and low-income students and funding to repair and upgrade campus infrastructure including a Bulldog Stadium in need of renovation.

At least two-thirds of the tax funds must be spent on academic programs and facilities and no more than one-third on women’s and men’s athletics facilities.

The measure would also create a five-member citizens’ oversight committee appointed by the Board of Supervisors, which would control the use of the tax funds to ensure they are used consistent with the measure, oversee the issuance of bonds and provide an annual audit report.

In taking a next step toward the ballot, the Fresno State Improvement Zone Committee needed 25,331 valid signatures to get the initiative in front of the Board of Supervisors.

“They turned in 39,360,” Kus said. “We did a random sample of what they turned in, exactly 3%, and in that random sample, when applied to the full, we believe that there is more than 110% of that 25,331 required valid signatures.”

The sample projected the group has at least 27,895 valid signatures within the total that were turned in.

“Those are the numbers right now,” Kus said. “We are continuing to process that, to do a review. Basically, we’re looking at the invalid signatures the same way that we would always take a look at a questioned signature for instance in a vote by mail process. But it really doesn’t matter anymore. This is the process. We always do this, but because we are above the 110% number, I will take this to the board.”

This story was originally published August 3, 2022 at 6:35 PM.