{"id":392072,"date":"2026-07-09T14:47:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/392072\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T14:47:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T14:47:20","slug":"fresno-countys-better-roads-tax-eligible-for-november-ballot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/392072\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresno County&#8217;s Better Roads tax eligible for November ballot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"&quot;byline&quot;\">by Julianna Morano, Fresnoland <br \/>July 8, 2026<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s official: One plan to replace Fresno County\u2019s 40-year transportation sales tax measure has met the minimum number of signatures to qualify for the ballot.<\/p>\n<p>Fresno County Clerk James Kus confirmed in an email that the Better Roads, Safe Streets campaign crossed that significant hurdle as of Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>Now, it\u2019s onto the <a href=\"https:\/\/fresnocounty.legistar.com\/View.ashx?M=A&amp;ID=1337148&amp;GUID=FBB8BE7F-E8D7-4580-8184-1CA8DAD7D26D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">July 14 Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting<\/a>, where the supervisors \u2014 some of whom have l<a href=\"https:\/\/fresnoland.org\/2026\/01\/27\/measure-c-renewal-2\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ong criticized Better Roads and sought an alternative Measure C successor plan<\/a> \u2014 have only a handful of legal options on how to respond to the plan, although one of those options could delay the measure from landing on the November ballot.<\/p>\n<p>It was a <a href=\"https:\/\/fresnoland.org\/2026\/05\/21\/transportation-tax\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">slightly bumpier road than expected<\/a> for the Better Roads campaign to reach this point. In late May, they learned that their measure didn\u2019t meet the mark to pass the much quicker random sample test of the roughly 32,500 signatures they\u2019d collected. Instead, they would need to pass a full count \u2014 a process requiring the clerk to validate just shy of 22,000 signatures while also contending with other responsibilities, such as administering the June 2 primary election.<\/p>\n<p>That left a quick turnaround for the clerk to get through those signatures in time to also present a \u201cCertificate of Sufficiency\u201d to the county supervisors, allowing them to take their required ministerial vote on the measure.<\/p>\n<p>But the campaign remained confident it would hit the mark and celebrated Wednesday\u2019s news as a reflection of the \u201cclear desire from voters who want to see this on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBetter Roads, Safe Streets brings together one of the broadest coalitions Fresno County has seen \u2014 community leaders, business, labor, local elected officials, and residents \u2014 united around a practical, locally controlled plan to address our transportation needs,\u201d said Clovis Mayor Vong Mouanoutoua in a statement shared by the Better Roads campaign. \u201cThis measure is about fixing roads, improving safety, strengthening infrastructure, and making long-term investments that benefit every community in Fresno County.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe thousands of residents who signed on to support this effort have earned the right to see Better Roads Safe Streets placed before voters in November.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, the supervisors have only a narrow set of moves they can make come Tuesday. They could pass a resolution allowing the measure to appear on the November ballot. Or, they could order a study on the impact of the proposed measure to be completed by Aug. 13 and subsequently call an election.<\/p>\n<p>But the latter option could push the board\u2019s ministerial vote past the Aug. 7 deadline for measures to land on the November ballot.<\/p>\n<p>And at least the chairman of the board of supervisors remains skeptical and suspicious. Supervisor Garry Bredefeld, one of the biggest critics of the Better Roads plan, said he wants the county to do its \u201cdue diligence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are many issues and questions regarding how this extremely dishonest and radical tax measure will adversely affect our constituents throughout Fresno County for the next 30 years,\u201d Bredefeld said in a statement late Wednesday. \u201cThis proposed tax scam was developed by environmental wackos and is really a public transportation tax disguised as a roads tax. I support the County doing its due diligence and analysis in order to protect our citizens. I don&#8217;t know what other Board members will do but many have publicly expressed similar concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Once the supervisors take their ministerial vote, the plan will then need the support of a simple majority of county voters, or fifty-percent-plus-one, in order to pass.<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday\u2019s development follows a tumultuous few years in the world of Fresno County regional transportation planning as leaders have scrambled to put together a united vision of what the next several decades of transportation spending should look like.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That included a <a href=\"https:\/\/fresnoland.org\/2026\/02\/19\/measure-c-5\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2022 failure at the ballot box<\/a> to pass a previous attempt at a Measure C renewal plan before the tax measure expires in 2027.<\/p>\n<p>There was also a time in early 2025 when county voters were staring down the possibility of having as many as <a href=\"https:\/\/fresnoland.org\/2025\/05\/01\/a-multi-billion-game-of-chicken-could-fresno-voters-face-three-transportation-taxes-next-year\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">three rival Measure C successor plans<\/a> to choose from, although <a href=\"https:\/\/fresnoland.org\/2026\/05\/21\/transportation-tax\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">that field narrowed<\/a> over the past few months.though <a href=\"https:\/\/fresnoland.org\/2026\/05\/21\/transportation-tax\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">that field narrowed<\/a> over the past few months.<\/p>\n<p>This &lt;a target=&#8221;_blank&#8221; href=&#8221;https:\/\/fresnoland.org\/2026\/07\/08\/better-roads-tax\/&#8221;&gt;article&lt;\/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&#8221;_blank&#8221; href=&#8221;https:\/\/fresnoland.org&#8221;&gt;Fresnoland&lt;\/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&#8221;_blank&#8221; href=&#8221;https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/&#8221;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;\/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&#8221;https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fresnoland.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/cropped-Fresnoland_FacebookProfile.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;quality=80&amp;amp;ssl=1&#8243; style=&#8221;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&#8221;&gt;<\/p>\n<p>&lt;img id=&#8221;republication-tracker-tool-source&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/fresnoland.org\/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=89835&#8243; style=&#8221;width:1px;height:1px;&#8221;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &#8220;https:\/\/fresnoland.org\/2026\/07\/08\/better-roads-tax\/&#8221;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;\/script&gt; &lt;script id=&#8221;parsely-cfg&#8221; src=&#8221;\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/fresnoland.org\/p.js&#8221;&gt;&lt;\/script&gt;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Julianna Morano, Fresnoland July 8, 2026 It\u2019s official: One plan to replace Fresno County\u2019s 40-year transportation sales&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-392072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392072","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=392072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}