recent discovery of a $1.5 million theft<\/a> from the city\u2019s parks and arts tax.<\/p>\nPerea noted that many of the same people pushing the other transportation tax spending plan were heavily involved in promoting the Measure P parks tax.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn light of what is happening right now with the use of Measure P dollars and the recent $1.5 million issue that\u2019s now being investigated by the police and the FBI, that\u2019s exactly what happens when you don\u2019t have oversight over dollars,\u201d Perea said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIronically, the same organization that was behind Measure P, the (Central Valley Community Foundation) they\u2019re behind this one, too. My question to them is, why are you eliminating oversight of public dollars, especially in a program this large?\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither the Central Valley Community Foundation nor Moving Fresno Forward provided GV Wire with comments in response to Perea\u2019s remarks about the Measure P embezzlement and their Measure C successor proposal.<\/p>\n
Mendes, speaking at Tuesday\u2019s Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting, echoed Perea\u2019s sentiments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe public needs to be very careful because the system has worked pretty dang good for the 20 years that it\u2019s been involved and the 20 before that,\u201d Mendes said. \u201cThere\u2019s never been an issue of fraud on Measure C.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Experts\u2019 Version Provides Flexibility to Use Funds<\/p>\n
Behind the experts\u2019 version are former Fresno COG Director Tony Boren, former Fresno County Transportation Authority Director Mike Leonardo, former Caltrans District 6 Director Diana Gomez, California Transportation Business Group Director Malcolm Dougherty, and Perea.<\/p>\n
While they\u2019re still tweaking some of the details, they plan to officially file this week, Perea said. The plan gives cities more flexibility for road repairs and promises to reform public transit without dedicating more money to fix a broken system, Perea said.<\/p>\n
It also keeps in place the FCTA, which Perea says has for decades ensured money has been spent appropriately. That board, comprised of rural and urban elected leaders, as well as community members, is a representative mix, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good check and balance. I would say at the end of the day, the work that they both do together really comes out in more public light at the (Fresno) Council of Governments because that\u2019s where the plans are initiated,\u201d Perea said. \u201cThe FCTA acts more as the bank and the oversight body making sure that what is in that plan fits the criteria.\u201d<\/p>\n
The FCTA board on Wednesday selected Clovis City Councilmember Lynne Ashbeck to lead the oversight board.<\/p>\n
However, she also supports the plan that eliminates the FCTA.<\/p>\n
She told GV Wire that she still supports FCTA and keeping it in the Moving Fresno Forward plan would be ideal, \u201cbut we couldn\u2019t get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oversight is always important in her mind, but she felt confident in the plan\u2019s ability to properly administer taxpayer money.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very worried that the funding will stop,\u201d Ashbeck said. \u201cThe people hurt the most are those in our smaller communities, and I just worry so much about that. That\u2019s my bigger worry.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Henry-R.-Perea.jpg\")
On March 12, 2024, Henry Perea speaks before the Fresno Council of Governments opposing the plan from community groups. (GV Wire\/Edward Smith)
\nCitizen-Led Initiative Has Safeguards: Dyer<\/p>\n
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said he feels confident about the safeguards to ensure money is spent legally and as the Moving Fresno Forward plan intends. In addition to the citizen oversight committee, it also lays out specific requirements for how money is spent. That includes reviews every year, every five years, and after 10 years, a total review of spending.<\/p>\n
Dyer said having two transportation taxes on the same ballot would likely mean both being rejected by voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s significant safeguards in the citizen-led initiative that will not only prevent thefts from occurring or embezzlement, but also to ensure that the dollars are being spent in a manner in which they\u2019re laid out,\u201d Dyer said.<\/p>\n
Fresno COG picks the 11-person committee. Three have to be from the Fresno-Clovis area and three have to be from rural areas. Another five must represent \u201cthe diversity of the county region, providing a balance of viewpoints.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dyer said having two transportation taxes on the same ballot would likely mean both being rejected by voters. The hurdle for adoption is 50% plus one. If both plans are approved, the one with the most votes would be enacted.<\/p>\n
Perea said their plan has a 40-year track record behind it, but he\u2019s still hopeful the two groups can come together to agree on a single plan for voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still hopeful that reasonable minds will prevail and that we can sit down with Mayor Dyer and maybe the Clovis folks and county and small cities and work out a compromise,\u201d Perea said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group of transportation experts \u2014 referred to that way by Fresno County Supervisor Buddy Mendes \u2014 has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-174115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}