After tax measure fails, what’s next for Fresno State? Its president looks forward

As the votes were counted and it was becoming clear that Measure E, the sales tax measure that would generate $36 million for academic and facilities upgrades at Fresno State, would be defeated, a major hot water line on campus sprung a leak.

It impacted eight buildings, leaving them without heat in the middle of November, and an email that was sent to faculty and staff included a reminder that individual space heaters are not permitted due to electrical safety concerns. It also illustrated the need for infrastructure upgrades on a campus that university president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval said has $500 million in deferred maintenance projects waiting to be addressed.

So what now, after Fresno County voters have rejected the tax proposal?

Jiménez-Sandoval said this week in an interview with The Bee that he is hopeful a second iteration of Measure E will be on the ballot in 2024 with a longer run-up — and as a result, in front of an electorate more informed about the value of the university and its impact on the region. Also, he will continue to push California State University officials to address aging buildings on campus and explore other avenues including additional student fees.

“There isn’t one silver bullet,” Jiménez-Sandoval said. “We have to come up with a collective of solutions, a multi-pronged approach that will reflect the solution to a very complex problem and that deals with enhanced funding from the Legislature, enhanced funding from the CSU, exploring the possibility of fees. How do we do fees? If we have fees that directly address certain services, does that then free up other monies to address other issues?

“And then, we also need to bring in our invested supporters and partners in the community who directly benefit from Fresno State, as well. We are all in this together.”

Increase student fees?

Fresno State, one of the least expensive CSUs to attend, could increase fees by as much as $1,000 and remain among the most cost-efficient campuses in the largest four-year public university system in the country.

Had Measure E passed, it, too, would be only a part of the solution.

“This is no longer the time for this or that,” Jiménez-Sandoval said. “It’s both. Its’ three or four options on the table at the same time.”

The measure, which was pushed by construction company owner Richard Spencer and with 47.1% of the vote fell well short of the 50% plus one vote needed to pass, came together quickly.

Proponents of any measure or initiative have 180 days to collect a required number of petition signatures to get on the ballot; supporters of the Fresno State Improvement Zone Committee got there in about six weeks, starting in June. Measure E was added to the November ballot when approved by the Fresno County Board of Supervisors in August and voted on three months later.

What’s next for tax supporters

Tim Orman, former chief of staff for Fresno mayors Jerry Dyer and Lee Brand and a longtime political consultant who was hired to lead the effort, said a second run at a tax measure is under discussion.

“We came reasonably close, a little over 47% for something that was a new thought to people,” Orman said. “We’re obviously going through and trying to figure out what we did well, what we didn’t do well and trying to read the tea leaves of the election to see what they say and what they portend for the future.”

But the results of the election can’t be the end, for Fresno State.

“It was disappointing, but it was also very uplifting to know that more than 100,000 people believe in Fresno State and see the value of Fresno State, as well,” Jiménez-Sandoval said.

“I think the other part of the equation just needs a little bit of encouragement to see how Fresno State is not part of the wallpaper, but this vital energy in the region; not the city but the region itself, that really promotes economic, artistic, personal, social, vibrancy. So, I’m hopeful that in the future there will be a second iteration in which a group of community leaders, community people, come together and say we want to do this for ourselves.”

It happened in a similar way with the Fresno Chaffee Zoo, Jiménez-Sandoval said. An Arts to Zoo sales tax was approved by voters in 1993, only to later be struck down by the courts.

A second tax to help fund the zoo later was passed by county voters.

“They came back and then it was in, and it has been an incredible contribution not just to the quality of life of our population, but the profile of the region, as well,” Jiménez-Sandoval said.

“The same thing, I believe, will happen with Fresno State. I believe that people will come together and I believe people will say, ‘We want to do that for ourselves.’”

The campus, however, continues to grow older and $500 million in deferred maintenance projects get more pressing. That figure does not include Valley Children’s Stadium, and the university and athletics officials continue to explore renovation as well as new construction.

“It gets done by not being content with being told, ‘No,’” Jiménez-Sandoval said. “That’s how it gets done. And it gets done by advocating for the region in the world that puts 25% of our food on the nation’s table. I think we need to re-brand ourselves into owning a historical piece of who we are. I think for the longest time we have just looked at ourselves and said, ‘We are only Central California. We are only the Central Valley. We are only Fresno State. I’m through with that, completely.

“Because I grew up here, I have a very strong sense of worth and value for the region and for what we contribute not only to the state’s economy but also to the nation and the world, and when you present it in those terms both to our partners in the CSU and to our supporters within the region, I think it takes on a different tenor.

“I’m doing that very consistently in saying Fresno is worth this much, therefore we deserve this much. I do not deserve to have deferred maintenance in the millions and millions of dollars, $500 million to be precise without counting athletics. So what do we do about it? How are we going to address this together? It’s also very necessary to educate our elected officials about two things. One, the worth of Fresno State and the impact on the region. And, two, the needs that Fresno State has.”

This story was originally published December 7, 2022 at 1:12 PM.