Fresno officials are trying to approve a half-cent tax measure for the November ballot, which they say would keep up infrastructure maintenance and prevent mass layoffs that will be caused by the looming expiration of a countywide transportation tax.
The city’s infrastructure backlog will increase by $55 million annually without an alternative funding source, according to the resolution, and place 217 jobs in jeopardy, according to Mayor Jerry Dyer.
But the proposed measure is a general tax, meaning the estimated $65 million in annual proceeds would ultimately be at the Fresno City Council’s discretion. There’s no guarantee the money would go exclusively towards transportation.
Leaders say they’re attempting to mitigate the impacts of Measure C expiring in 2027, but the proposal would be a drastic change from the county’s longstanding transportation tax. Measure C raised funds dedicated by law to county transportation projects managed by the Fresno Council of Governments and the Fresno County Transportation Authority. There is also oversight from a citizen committee.
Dyer, Council President Nelson Esparza and Councilmember Mike Karbassi announced the proposal last week. They said it’s needed to keep up public transportation and infrastructure projects in the city after the Better Roads, Safe Streets initiative to succeed Measure C for the entire county was stalled by the Board of Supervisors. The countywide effort likely won’t go before voters until 2028.
“We’re asking folks to keep their faith in us, because otherwise the alternative is massive layoffs, loss of services until at least two years until we pass the next iteration of Measure C,” Karbassi said.
The Fresno City Council is scheduled to vote to place the measure on Fresno’s ballot at Thursday’s council meeting. If approved, then it’s up to Fresno voters in November.
The co-sponsors each said they’d rather have a continued version of Measure C, which brought in roughly $150 million annually across the county, and that the city proposal is a reaction to the stalled out countywide initiative.
“The loss of these funds would severely, severely hinder our ability to maintain streets and sidewalks, pedestrian trails, trim our trees, and to do litter abatement,” Dyer said at a press conference last week.
The city already faces $1.2 billion in deferred maintenance on local streets and roads and $300 million in deferred maintenance on sidewalks, according to the resolution.
What’s the fiscal oversight?
The guardrails proposed on spending are an oversight committee of residents to “review and report” on an independent auditor’s yearly report of revenue use.
The committee will not necessarily be tasked with tracking whether the funds are used for transportation or infrastructure projects, but to ensure spending is legal under a general tax use.
The mayor and City Council will approve all members of the committee. While each council member may have their own preferences, Karbassi said he would like to see a retired bus driver or someone who has experience in transportation or public works on the committee.
Karbassi said the public already puts its trust in the city council for the spending of city funds.
“The public already puts that trust in us,” Karbassi said. “We have two authorities as councilmembers that the mayor doesn’t have: approving a budget and final land use decisions.”
Why a general tax over a specific tax?
A general tax is being pursued because of timing, Esparza said. General fund taxes only need a majority of voters to support, whereas a specific tax needs two-thirds.
“We couldn’t get the whole community to agree on what a countywide would look like. There was no time for the council to come to an agreement amongst ourselves,” Esparza said at a press conference last week.
The city’s Department of Transportation is not a general fund department, but the council can choose to move dollars from the general fund to the department.
“Which is what my goal is, so we don’t start laying off bus drivers and reducing the frequency of bus transit routes,” Karbassi said. “It’s not their fault this happened. This is a failure of politics beyond us.”
If the city’s proposal is placed on the ballot and approved by voters, it would expire in 10 years or, if a countywide sales tax is approved in the future. It’s a half-cent tax and would keep Fresno’s tax rate at 8.35%.
Proposed ballot language for the Fresno Public Safety, Infrastructure Restoration and City General Services Tax:
“City of Fresno roads/public safety/city services measure (no tax increase): With no estimated increase to current tax rates, shall the measure maintaining local streets, roads, sidewalks; improving police/fire staffing, 9-1-1 emergency response; maintaining transit services; accelerating airport improvements, and other general services by establishing a 0.5¢ sales tax providing approximately $65,000,000 annually for 10 years or until adoption of a County transportation tax, whichever is sooner; with citizen oversight, all funds spent locally, be adopted?”