Politicians who want us to swallow 30-year, $6B Fresno County tax just making a mess of it
The largest tax in Fresno County history must clear one final hurdle — the Fresno City Council — before it can go before voters.
Or maybe Thursday’s council vote to support the Measure C Renewal Expenditure Plan is largely symbolic.
Honestly, I don’t know which is true. Depends on whom you ask, and how that person fits in this bewildering public process puzzle.
But I do know this: The Measure C renewal effort has been plagued by confusion and contentiousness from the outset. So it makes sense the final carry across the goal line extends that theme.
During their Tuesday meeting, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors were scheduled to approve a resolution to place the 30-year, half-cent transportation tax on the November 2022 ballot.
That didn’t happen. Instead, the supervisors punted the vote until a special meeting hastily called for Friday afternoon.
Why? Because the delay allows for the Fresno City Council to weigh in first. Which is important because of specific language in the California Public Utilities Code, contained within the enabling legislation that established the Fresno County Transportation Authority.
Let’s refer to Division 16, Chapter 5, Section 142256: “A county transportation expenditure plan shall not be adopted by the authority until it has received the approval of the board of supervisors and of the city councils representing both a majority of the cities in the county and a majority of the population residing in the incorporated areas of the county.”
Huh.
The way I read that section, the FCTA should have waited until after city councils in a majority of Fresno County cities — or the city of Fresno itself — approved a Measure C expenditure plan before its own governing board did so.
That didn’t happen. When the FCTA board voted July 20 to approve the plan, only one city (Huron) had done so previously. And that council approved an outdated version.
The FCTA was made aware of its noncompliance with state law in a July 19 letter submitted by a coalition of community organizers that also raised concerns about potential Brown Act and CEQA violations during the renewal process. Rather than dissuade them from voting, individual board members responded with vitriol.
Can Fresno City Council scuttle Measure C renewal?
Over the last three weeks, all but a few Fresno County cities have given Measure C their blessing. Leaving the Fresno City Council — whose seven members represent 54% of Fresno County’s total population — with the final say over whether it goes on the November ballot. (The county supes have already weighed in.)
Perhaps. That part is a little fuzzy. Again, it depends whom you ask.
If you ask Veronica Garibay, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability’s co-executive director, the answer is affirmative. Yes, the Fresno City Council must approve Thursday’s resolution to approve the Measure C Renewal Expenditure Plan in order for the county Board of Supervisors, during Friday’s special meeting, to place it before voters this fall.
Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias also shares that belief.
“If the City Council votes ‘no,’ then the Board of Supervisors cannot vote to put the extension on the ballot,” Arias said.
Mike Leonardo, the FCTA’s executive director, has a different view. He termed the Fresno council’s approval as “critical” but arguably not 100% necessary for the process to move forward.
“We believe we are in substantial compliance with the enabling legislation,” Leonardo said. “But it would be better if all the cities, including Fresno, approved the resolution toward supporting Measure C on the ballot.”
It would also be better if public officials took their time to engage as many residents as possible before asking them to vote on a $6.84 billion tax measure. Except that isn’t happening. Instead it’s been a process plagued by confusion, exclusion and last-minute re-jiggering.
Two councilmembers remain undecided on vote
The county Board of Supervisors delaying their Measure C authorization until after Thursday’s Fresno City Council vote — and calling a special meeting to do so — feels like a deliberate attempt to tidy things up. Just in case community organizers and activists follow through on their threat of a legal challenge.
This could all be a moot argument. After all, the city of Fresno did strong-arm the process at the 11th hour by insisting on modifications to the calculations of two funding buckets that granted $185 million extra to incorporated cities.
After City Hall went through all that trouble, would a council majority turn around and vote “no” on a plan members helped create? It seems unlikely. However, Arias and fellow Councilmember Mike Karbassi indicated Tuesday they remain undecided.
Arias’ main hang-up is the distribution of Transit Oriented Development funds: projects that will increase demand for public transit by building high-density housing and mixed use. Arias believes the bar to qualify for these funds was set too low, allowing for cities to use TOD money for projects that aren’t really high density.
Karbassi told me he’s still debating whether to support the Measure C resolution and had a Wednesday meeting scheduled with Sandra Celedon, the Fresno Building Healthy Communities CEO who has been an outspoken critic of the renewal effort.
If enough council members are feeling iffy about supporting a tax measure that doesn’t expire until 2057, one specifically targeted for a nonpresidential election year with low voter turnout, then maybe we’ll be in store for one final plot twist.
Or maybe Thursday won’t matter in the least. This entire process has been as clear as pond algae. Why change now?
