CA: Effort underway to place Fresno County transportation sales tax on November ballot

A coalition of community leaders and groups across Fresno County filed a notice of intention to gather voters’ signatures to qualify a transportation improvement measure on the November 2026 ballot.

Fresno County taxpayers have paid billions in dedicated sales taxes, 0.5 cents on every purchase, for the past 40 years through Measure C to pay for county transportation. It was first passed by voters in 1986, renewed in 2006, and expires in 2027.

The new plan is a renewal of Measure C that will deliver an estimated $7.4 billion over 30 years to repair local streets, enhance safety, and make transportation options more accessible for everyone, the coalition said Monday in a press release.

If approved, the plan would create a major shift in transportation policy for Fresno County. Previously, the Measure C funds primarily focused on building and expanding freeways, while the coalition plans for future funds to go into local roadways and public transportation, and includes no funding for freeway expansion.

“Over the last year, thousands of Fresno County residents came together to shape a vision for a better transportation future that aligns our tax dollars with how people actually move through their daily lives,” said Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability Co-Director Veronica Garibay. “We are moving forward together with a plan to use local funding to fix what matters most, fixing local roads first, improving transit, creating good jobs now and for future generations, without raising taxes.”

The last formal effort to renew Measure C failed in 2022, which critics say focused too much on regional highways and was crafted with little public input.

The coalition must gather 35,000 valid signatures from Fresno County voters over the next several weeks to qualify the measure for the November ballot.

County Supervisor Garry Bredefeld is critical of the plan, and voted against it in December on the Fresno Council of Governments’ Policy Board along with the mayors of Selma, Reedly and Kingsburg. The rest of the county’s 16 mayors approved the plan.

If it makes it to the ballot and is approved, the measure will be in place for 30 years and will require comprehensive reviews at least every 10 years.

“By maintaining a sales tax for transportation, Fresno County can fix local roads, protect taxpayers, and build a transportation system that works for everyone — now and in the future,” said Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer. “For nearly four decades, local transportation sales tax funds have delivered real results, but our work is far from over, and without a reliable local funding source, the city of Fresno and other communities in Fresno County will continue to fall further behind.”

Effort underway to place Fresno County transportation sales tax on November ballot

How will the funds be used?

The plan includes:

• An estimated $4.8 billion, 65% of the funds, to fix and improve local streets, potholes, sidewalks, crosswalks, curb and gutter, streetlights, bike lanes and routes to schools.
• $1.85 billion, 25% of the funds, to improve the efficiency of the county’s public transit services.
• $370 million, 5% of the funds, to projects that provide congestion relief and better connections between cities and towns.
• $296 million, 4% of the funds, to enable new technologies, invest in zero-emission infrastructure, and increase access to new destinations.
• $74 million, 1% of the funds, to ensure transparent spending, strong citizen oversight, annual audits and a public database tracking every dollar and project.

“Not everyone drives a car, not everyone rides the bus, not everyone has kids that need to get to school safely, not everyone lives in my city or yours, but everyone cares about the success of Fresno County,” said City of Clovis Councilmember and Former Mayor Lynne Ashbeck. “The more successful Fresno County is, the more successful all of our cities will be, and this proposed funding allocation and plan reflects that shared reality and responsibility.”

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