Better Roads, Safe Streets<\/a> petition.<\/p>\nThe plan has one last time-sensitive barrier to clear before organizers can celebrate its place on the November ballot.<\/p>\n
On July 14, Kus\u2019s office will present a \u201cCertificate of Sufficiency\u201d for Better Roads, Safe Streets to the County Board of Supervisors. The board\u2019s chairman, Garry Bredefeld, has been the plan\u2019s biggest critic.<\/p>\n
The board at next week\u2019s meeting can vote to approve the petition for the November ballot or call for an impact report study. If a majority of supervisors favor the latter, the next meeting to review the findings would be Aug. 11, past the Aug. 7 deadline required for November ballot approval.<\/p>\n
Better Roads, Safe Streets aims to use revenue from a general sales tax, a half-cent on every purchase, to fund transportation and infrastructure across the county. It would last 30 years and deliver an estimated $7.4 billion, with 65% of the funds going into local streets and 25% into public transportation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis measure is about fixing roads, improving safety, strengthening infrastructure, and making long-term investments that benefit every community in Fresno County,\u201d Clovis Mayor Vong Mouanoutoua said in a statement. \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
Bredefeld has said that not enough of the funds are dedicated to fixing local roads, and too much is allocated to public transportation. He told The Bee on Thursday he will support the county in \u201cdoing its due diligence and analysis.\u201d<\/p>\n
He is unsure how other board members will vote, but said some have expressed similar concerns.<\/p>\n
\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 he said. \u201cThis proposed tax scam was developed by environmental wackos and is really a public transportation tax disguised as a roads tax.\u201d<\/p>\n
Better Roads, Safe Streets did not pass a random sample test by the Fresno County Clerk\u2019s Office in May, which required staff to then individually validate the signatures in time for the last Board of Supervisors meeting scheduled before the Aug. 7 deadline. However, supporters of the plan remained certain they would qualify in time, describing Wednesday\u2019s development as \u201creflecting the clear desire from voters who want to see this on the ballot,\u201d in a statement.<\/p>\n
The city councils of Fresno, Mendota, Parlier and Huron have all voted to formally support Better Roads, Safe Streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetter Roads, Safe Streets provides a practical, locally controlled plan to invest in safer, more reliable roads that residents, businesses, farmers, emergency services, and families depend on every day,\u201d City of Mendota Mayor Victor Martinez said in a statement. \u201cThis measure recognizes that Fresno County\u2019s transportation needs are diverse and incorporated and unincorporated communities deserve their fair share of infrastructure investment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fresno County taxpayers have paid billions in dedicated sales taxes \u2014 0.5 cents on every purchase \u2014 for the past 40 years through Measure C to pay for county transportation, transit and infrastructure improvements. It was first passed by voters in 1986, renewed in 2006, and expires in 2027.<\/p>\n
If the supervisors wait until after Aug. 7 to place the measure on the ballot, it will appear on the next statewide election in March 2028, or on a special election shortly after the November 2026 General Election, Kus said.<\/p>\n
How would the Better Roads, Safe Streets funds be used?65% to existing neighborhood roads25% to public transportation5% to regional connectivity4% to access and innovation1% to administration and oversight<\/p>\n
This story was originally published July 9, 2026 at 2:35 PM.<\/p>\n
Related Stories from Fresno Bee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a somewhat turbulent journey, an initiative to replace Fresno County\u2019s decades-old transportation tax officially has enough validated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-392621","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\/392621","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=392621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}