{"id":476927,"date":"2026-09-27T00:20:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T00:20:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476927\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T00:20:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T00:20:21","slug":"fact-check-where-fresno-county-d1-supervisor-candidates-stand-on-measure-s-the-road-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476927\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact check: Where Fresno County D1 supervisor candidates stand on Measure S, the road tax"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reality Check is a Fresno Bee series<\/a> holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a tip? Email tips@fresnobee.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ISSUE | Measure S, Better Roads, Safer Streets: The hotly contested Measure S will be on the ballot in November, and many local politicians have taken sides on the effort to replace an existing tax measure to fund road improvements.<\/p>\n

Measure S was launched to ask voters<\/a> to replace Measure C, the current half-cent sales tax Fresno County has had for 40 years to pay for county transportation, transit and infrastructure improvements. The fund makes Fresno County a so-called self-help county, because the money from the tax can be used to pull down grants to pay for larger projects.<\/p>\n

Fresno County taxpayers have paid billions in dedicated sales tax since it passed in 1986 and was renewed by voters in 2006. The measure expires in 2027, and Measure S would take its place.<\/p>\n

Measure S nearly did not make it to the ballot<\/a> this year after a majority of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors ordered a study, which would have held up the measure from qualifying for the Nov. 3 ballot. Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, D-Fresno, and state Sen. Anna Caballero, D-Merced, sponsored Assembly Bill 1923<\/a> in late July that ultimately placed the measure on the ballot this year.<\/p>\n

Here’s where candidates Mike Karbassi, who serves on the Fresno City Council, and Maria Pacheco, mayor of Kerman, stand on Measure S. The two are headed for a run-off for District 1.<\/p>\n

Mike Karbassi<\/p>\n

The second term Fresno City Council member pointed out that he voted to support Measure S and Measure D, a Fresno specific road tax that leaders drafted when it looked like S would not make it to the ballot this year.<\/p>\n

“I encourage all residents to vote for both measures because Measure S, if we don’t pass Measure S, you’re going to see a major deficit for the city of Fresno, but you’re also going to see a major loss in funding for our rural communities that depend on those dollars more than ever,” he said. “Is Measure S perfect? Probably not. Any policy is never going to be perfect when you’ve got a bunch of sides negotiating, but it’s what we got, and I think not supporting it would be a mistake.”<\/p>\n

He said if the measure failed, it could lead to layoffs for workers like bus drivers.<\/p>\n

Maria Pacheco<\/p>\n

The city of Kerman adopted a resolution to officially support Measure S on Wednesday, according to Pacheco, who serves as mayor.<\/p>\n

“The city of Kerman itself will double the revenue that comes in from Measure S that we’ve been experiencing in the last 30 years,” she said. “So, very excited for this measure, but more excited that the voters who put this together will have the opportunity to vote yes or no, and finally have control over their own tax dollars. And, I think that that’s really important for the community that is paying into this tax to have the final say in how these dollars are spent.”<\/p>\n

Pacheco said she was involved in the effort to pass the state law, AB 1923, that overrode the county supervisors and placed Measure S on the ballot. She testified in Sacramento. She is a senior field representative for Soria’s Office.<\/p>\n

\"Fresno<\/p>\n

Fresno City Councilmember Mike Karbassi and Kerman Mayor Maria Pacheco are headed to a runoff in the general election on Nov. 3 for the Fresno County Supervisor District 1 seat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Reality Check is a Fresno Bee series holding those in power to account and shining a light on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[11997,112,8019,622,114,113,95858,171015],"class_list":["post-476927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-esmeralda-soria","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-city-council","tag-fresno-county","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-maria-pacheco","tag-measure-s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476927","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=476927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}