{"id":478133,"date":"2026-09-28T09:22:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T09:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/478133\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T09:22:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T09:22:17","slug":"measure-s-battle-local-candidates-weigh-in-on-fresno-funding-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/478133\/","title":{"rendered":"Measure S battle: local candidates weigh in on Fresno funding"},"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

Click to resize<\/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\u2019s 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

\u201cI encourage all residents to vote for both measures because Measure S, if we don\u2019t pass Measure S, you\u2019re going to see a major deficit for the city of Fresno, but you\u2019re also going to see a major loss in funding for our rural communities that depend on those dollars more than ever,\u201d he said. \u201cIs Measure S perfect? Probably not. Any policy is never going to be perfect when you\u2019ve got a bunch of sides negotiating, but it\u2019s what we got, and I think not supporting it would be a mistake.\u201d<\/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

\u201cThe city of Kerman itself will double the revenue that comes in from Measure S that we’ve been experiencing in the last 30 years,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, 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.\u201d<\/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\u2019s Office.<\/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. Courtesy of respective campaigns <\/p>\n

This story was originally published September 26, 2026 12:25 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Thaddeus Miller<\/a><\/p>\n

Merced Sun-Star<\/p>\n

Reporter Thaddeus Miller has covered cities in the central San Joaquin Valley since 2010, writing about everything from breaking news to government and police accountability. A native of Fresno, he joined The Fresno Bee in 2019 after time in Merced and Los Banos.\n <\/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":478134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-478133","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\/478133","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=478133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}