Transportation tax study needed, Fresno Co. says. November ballot goal likely dead
The majority of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday threw up potentially the final roadblock to getting the renewal of a transportation tax on the ballot this November.
The supervisors voted 3-2 for a 30-day study by Fresno County staffers on the Better Roads, Safe Streets initiative, a proposed ballot measure to extend Measure C that had the support of nine of the county’s 15 cities including Fresno and Clovis.
The study would not be ready until the supervisors’ meeting on Aug. 11, making it too late for the deadline four days earlier to make it onto the November ballot. The supervisors could call a special meeting to vote before the Aug. 7 deadline but that would require the support of board chairperson Supervisor Garry Bredefeld, who has been the most outspoken opponent of the measure and its supporters.
A vote by the majority of the supervisors could also call a special meeting.
The half-cent sales tax renewal would last 30 years and tally an estimated $7.4 billion, with 65% of the funds going into local streets and 25% into public transportation. The city of Fresno and the county each have about a $1.5 billion backlog in street repairs.
The supervisors discussed Tuesday’s vote for more than two hours with Supervisor Nathan Magsig asking a slew of questions. He said he appreciated the measure would earmark 65% of its funding to local roads, which was more than the 34% from the old Measure C, but he was concerned with its guidelines.
“The one issue — if I were to call it a fatal flaw, as I see it — is it was so prescriptive to the county,” he said before voting for the 30-day study. “I don’t know exactly how the county is going to be able to fully expend its portion.”
He pointed to language in the ballot measure he said appeared to require bike lanes and other improvements to roads where the county would be making improvements “when feasible.” Exactly who would decide what roads were feasible left too much room for a court battle down the road, Magsig said.
Bredefeld and Supervisor Buddy Mendes cast the other votes for the 30-day study and to likely push Measure C off of the coming November ballot.
Bredefeld argued the 30-year plan was too long, and he would not support the proposal in part because it was backed by Ashley Swearengin, the former mayor of Fresno and CEO of Central Valley Community Foundation. He said her nonprofit was funded by “out-of-town rich radicals.”
“It’s really an effort to get people to stop driving their cars and ride buses, scooters, and bicycles to work,” he said. “Complete environmental wacko insanity.”
One of the proponents behind the plan was Veronica Garibay, executive director of the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability. She said “thousands” of people helped write the proposal through meetings in every county ZIP code.
She said the paving of local roads was the highest priority of residents, and that’s why the measure was prescriptive about its spending.
“They do want to see that their tax dollars are spent according to how they voted, and this measure does that and speaks to what residents have said: Fix our local streets,” she said. “But they give us the ability to make the improvements regardless of whether we walk, ride, bike, or ride a bus.”
Supervisor Brian Pacheco said he had some reservations about the measure but the proponents had met their requirements to reach the ballot. He voted against the 30-day delay.
“I’m not here to debate the merits of the issue. I personally believe there are some serious issues with this,” he said. “I fully understand that the mayors of most cities want it because they’re going to get more money than what they’ve had in the past, and that’s what this initiative does.”
The county could take a significant hit without an extended Measure C. County staffers estimated 90 layoffs to county employees without an extension of the measure. The county also does not contribute any money from the general fund to street improvements, and largely relies on grants that usually need matching funds, the staffers said.
“But if we don’t have those dollars, there are going to be real consequences to our community,” Supervisor Luis Chavez said. “Older neighborhoods that, as one constituent told me about a week ago: His neighborhood hasn’t been repaved since (President) Jimmy Carter was in office.”
This story was originally published July 14, 2026 at 3:51 PM.
