Con Measure P: Too costly, too long and too much impact on public safety

Measure P is the proposed increase in Fresno sales tax organized by well-meaning community leaders who believe a $2 billion-dollar investment over the next 30 years is the best way for our community to dig itself out from under too few parks and art, too much trash and limited training of labor.

Their argument is that Fresno ranks near the bottom of these categories and this tax increase is the silver bullet that will fix our problems.

If passed, Measure P will generate nearly $40 million in year one and almost twice that much annually by year 30. It’s hundreds of millions of dollars to be spent by people not elected to this responsibility.

Regardless of how effective or ineffective Measure P turns out to be, the public would be stuck with it for three decades, while the vast majority of our most successful tax measures have 5, 7 or 10-year life spans.

One example is Measure Z (the zoo tax), which is 25 percent the size and one-third the length. It generates “only” $10 million per year, which the Chaffee Zoo has used to create multiple world-class attractions while demonstrating that it is both capable and worthy of the investment. Only then, was Measure Z renewed for an additional 10 years. The point being that a shorter term and a more reasonable amount would have made Measure P much more palatable.

Proponents of Measure P will argue that the Chaffee Zoo is a single location, while the maintenance and expansion of our parks will require far greater resources. I understand the argument, but struggle with the numbers and wonder what happens when our community has its next economic slowdown.

Measure P does not take into consideration the impact of our next recession, likely to occur at some point in the future, as they have in the past, with varying degrees of severity. I’ve lived through three in my career; the last one left tens of thousands of people in our community out of work.

When our economy does stumble, and our city is forced to cut critical services, Measure P will continue to collect hundreds of millions of dollars without one penny applied to priorities such as public safety, homelessness and infrastructure.

Advocates of Measure P argue that more parks will make our community safer, but what I see is just the opposite. Ask the Community Sanitation Department how many drug needles they find in parks. We should not build what we cannot protect.

One category that would receive nearly $200 million over the lifetime of Measure P is the Fresno Arts Council. Decisions on how this fortune will be spent will be made by people that voters had little influence in appointing and our community will have little ability to change.

We’ve all witnessed the result of our shortage of police officers and seen the problems created by the greatest homeless challenge in our city’s history. Measure P is an enormous tax that does not directly address either of these pressing issues, not to mention the hundreds of streets throughout the city that have not been resurfaced in decades.

I agree with my friends who stand behind Measure P. We are short on parks, and we need more arts, less litter and more job training — but what we need more than anything is a reasonable balance between all community priorities and the ability to change or modify for current conditions.

If Measure P passes, it’s highly unlikely that voters would support yet another increase in sales tax for public Safety on the 2020 ballot. Measure P could very well have a chilling impact on neighborhood safety.

Unfortunately, because of the magnitude of this tax, the 30-year liability, the lack of consideration for all critical needs and any ability to adjust for unforeseen conditions, I will be joining the Fresno Firefighters and Police Officers Associations, the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, the Fresno County Lincoln Club and many others in voting no on Measure P.