Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

West Bank Town Becomes ‘Big Prison’ as Israel Fences It In

3 days ago

Trump Says He’s Willing to Let Migrant Farm Laborers Stay in US

3 days ago

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

4 days ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

4 days ago

Trump’s Sweeping Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Wins Congressional Approval

4 days ago

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

4 days ago

US Supreme Court to Decide Legality of Transgender School Sports Bans

4 days ago

Nvidia Set to Become the World’s Most Valuable Company in History

5 days ago

Poll: 41% in US ‘Extremely Proud’ to Be American, Near Historic Low

5 days ago
After '11th Hour' Change, Measure C Tax Renewal Faces Rough Road Ahead
NANCY WEBSITE HEADSHOT 1
By Nancy Price, Multimedia Journalist
Published 3 years ago on
July 8, 2022

Share

 

A last-minute proposal put forward Thursday evening by the city of Fresno for a Measure C renewal spending plan was approved 11-4 by the Fresno Council of Governments Policy Board after an extensive public hearing, but the proposal still faces scrutiny by county officials that could yet keep the sales tax measure from reaching the November ballot.

Supervisor Buddy Mendes, who chairs the Fresno County Transportation Authority, said the Fresno alternate plan, which most COG Policy Board members received just prior to Thursday’s meeting at City Hall, is still very much a work in progress.

And Supervisor Steve Brandau, who serves with Mendes on the Fresno County Transportation Authority, says he won’t vote to put the Fresno proposal on the November ballot.

“It may pass but not with my help,” he told GV Wire Friday morning in a text message. “I thought the City of Fresno did a masterful job obtaining their desired outcome. They were the big winner. The small city mayors voted in their best interest and gained dollars for their communities The County of Fresno was a nonfactor and biggest loser.”

Fresno Alternative A Late Arrival

The Fresno plan proposes shifting $185 million from the county of Fresno to the incorporated cities to use for street, sidewalk, and curb repairs as well as “flexible funds” that Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said the city would use to fully fund FAX, the bus transit agency.

Transportation officials estimate that a renewed Measure C, a half-cent sales tax for transportation projects, would generate $6.8 billion over its 30-year life.

Under the original proposal that came after months of public meetings and surveys and that had won the approval of various COG technical and executive committees, funding for FAX was slated to be slashed significantly. Dyer acknowledged that city officials had been working on the city’s proposal for the past two weeks without input from the public or other elected officials across the county.

The city’s proposal would remove $25 million to improve Grantland Avenue west of Highway 99 and $20 million for Temperance Avenue on the city’s southeast side, leaving those improvements up to developers to fund, Dyer said.

In exchange, the proposal would shift $40 million to improve east-west corridors west of Highway 99 — Shaw, Ashlan, Clinton, and McKinley avenues — and $5 million to continue improving bus rapid transit “smart mobility” improvements on Blackstone Avenue.

Mike Prandini, president and CEO of the Building Industries Association of Fresno and Madera Counties, said Friday morning that he was surprised to see the city’s proposal eliminates funding for the Grantland and Temperance projects. Developers had proposed including them in Measure C because of their regional impact, he said.

The cost of those road improvements would be borne by future new home buyers in those areas, but Prandini said he would not estimate just how much more expensive the homes would have to be to cover those costs.

Recalculating

Fresno’s proposal originally called for an 80-20 formula of dividing funding for street rehabilitation, 80% for population and 20% for road miles, but that formula was adjusted in the final motion to a 78%-22% split to account for how the Fresno County Transportation Authority calculates population.

Mendes said a lot more rechecking of numbers will need to be done in the next four days before the proposal is presented Tuesday to the Board of Supervisors and then Wednesday to the Fresno County Transportation Authority.

The city’s decision to introduce a last-minute proposal is “kind of a hell of a way to run a railroad,” Mendes told GV Wire. “You have to keep working the numbers and see what it means.”

COG’s decision to try to put the Measure C renewal on November’s ballot, which most of the dozens of people speaking at Thursday’s meeting opposed, gives additional opportunities to win voter approval, Mendes said. The current version of Measure C, which will sunset in 2027, needed more than one election to win approval in 2006, so the more election options means “more bites of the apple,” he said.

Many who spoke at the Measure C meeting complained that the Fresno proposal was surfacing at the 11th hour, giving the public little to no time to properly review it.

Reedley would gain $7.9 million under the Fresno proposal. But Mayor Mary Fast, who attended the meeting remotely, said she could not vote on a document that she hadn’t even seen. Fresno’s proposal was handed out to the officials attending in person but was not emailed to those who like Fast attended remotely. The mayors of Mendota, San Joaquin, and Selma also voted against the Fresno proposal.

Clovis Wants TOD Money

Clovis Mayor Jose Flores tied his city’s support by requiring that the city’s definition of “transit oriented developments” eligible for Measure C money be revised to relax the housing density and frequency of service requirements. Otherwise, Flores said, only the city of Fresno would qualify for that pot of money. Dyer explained that the housing and transit frequency numbers came from the state of California, which advocates for more housing density and higher transit use to improve air quality.

The motion, as approved by the Policy Board, calls for Fresno and Clovis to “clarify” the wording on the TOD requirements.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Netanyahu Nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

DON'T MISS

Netanyahu Meets Trump at White House as Israel, Hamas Discuss Ceasefire

DON'T MISS

Trump Executive Order Seeks End to Wind and Solar Energy Subsidies

DON'T MISS

US Threatens California With Legal Action Over Transgender Sports Law

DON'T MISS

US Veterans Affairs Will Cut Nearly 30,000 Jobs, Far Fewer Than Planned

DON'T MISS

Houston Astros Donate $1M to Help Recovery From Texas Floods

DON'T MISS

Tucker Carlson Aired Interview With President of Iran

DON'T MISS

California Fails to Stop 23andMe Founder From Re-Acquiring Company

DON'T MISS

Madera County Multi-Agency Effort Leads to Arrest of Felony Suspect in Atwater

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest DUI Driver During Crackdown on Illegal Street Racing and Sideshows

UP NEXT

Fresno County Fish Fire Burns 15 Acres Near Avocado Lake, 50% Contained

UP NEXT

Wanted Fugitive Found Hiding in Attic Arrested in Chowchilla

UP NEXT

Fresno Police Arrest 9 at Independence Day DUI Checkpoint

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Douglas Wayne Brittain

UP NEXT

Fresno DUI Driver Slams Into CHP Motorcycle, Tow Truck on Highway 99

UP NEXT

Clovis, Sanger, Madera, and Bass Lake Will Light the Sky With Fireworks Shows Tonight

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Rachelle Maria Blanco

UP NEXT

Fresno Police to Conduct DUI Checkpoint on Fourth of July, Boost Holiday Patrols

UP NEXT

RIP John Harris: Fresno County Rancher, Racehorse Breeder Was a Visionary Leader Who Leaves a ‘Profound Legacy’

UP NEXT

Valadao, Costa Spar on What Passage of Trump’s Bill Means for Medicaid Recipients

Nancy Price,
Multimedia Journalist
Nancy Price is a multimedia journalist for GV Wire. A longtime reporter and editor who has worked for newspapers in California, Florida, Alaska, Illinois and Kansas, Nancy joined GV Wire in July 2019. She previously worked as an assistant metro editor for 13 years at The Fresno Bee. Nancy earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Her hobbies include singing with the Fresno Master Chorale and volunteering with Fresno Filmworks. You can reach Nancy at 559-492-4087 or Send an Email

US Threatens California With Legal Action Over Transgender Sports Law

4 hours ago

US Veterans Affairs Will Cut Nearly 30,000 Jobs, Far Fewer Than Planned

4 hours ago

Houston Astros Donate $1M to Help Recovery From Texas Floods

4 hours ago

Tucker Carlson Aired Interview With President of Iran

4 hours ago

California Fails to Stop 23andMe Founder From Re-Acquiring Company

5 hours ago

Madera County Multi-Agency Effort Leads to Arrest of Felony Suspect in Atwater

5 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest DUI Driver During Crackdown on Illegal Street Racing and Sideshows

5 hours ago

July 4 Weekend Was No Picnic for Fresno-Area Firefighters. How Bad Did It Get?

6 hours ago

Tulare County Seizes 300 Pounds of Illegal Fireworks Over Fourth of July

6 hours ago

US Proposes Rules That Could Boost Oil, Gas Output in US West

7 hours ago

Netanyahu Nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

WASHINGTON – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday told President Donald Trump he had nominated him for the Nobel Peace ...

3 hours ago

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks on during a bilateral dinner with U.S. President Donald Trump (not pictured), at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 7, 2025. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
3 hours ago

Netanyahu Nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize

U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 7, 2025. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
3 hours ago

Netanyahu Meets Trump at White House as Israel, Hamas Discuss Ceasefire

A wind farm is shown in Movave, California, U.S., November 8, 2019. (Reuter File)
4 hours ago

Trump Executive Order Seeks End to Wind and Solar Energy Subsidies

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon testifies before a Senate Appropriations hearing on U.S. President Donald Trump's budget request for the Department of Education, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 3, 2025. (Reuters File)
4 hours ago

US Threatens California With Legal Action Over Transgender Sports Law

United States Department of Veterans Affairs logo and U.S. flag are seen in this illustration taken April 23, 2025. (Reuters File)
4 hours ago

US Veterans Affairs Will Cut Nearly 30,000 Jobs, Far Fewer Than Planned

A group of search and rescue workers paddle a boat in the Guadalupe River in the aftermath of deadly flooding in Kerr County, Texas, U.S., July 7, 2025. (Reuters/Sergio Flores)
4 hours ago

Houston Astros Donate $1M to Help Recovery From Texas Floods

4 hours ago

Tucker Carlson Aired Interview With President of Iran

Attendees visit the 23andMe booth at the RootsTech annual genealogical event in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., February 28, 2019. (Reuters File)
5 hours ago

California Fails to Stop 23andMe Founder From Re-Acquiring Company

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend