Challenger Luis Chavez and incumbent Fresno County District 3 Supervisor Sal Quintero offered differing analyses of the cooperation between city and county leaders at their debate on Thursday night.

Chavez, who is a Fresno City Councilmember, gave the relationship a “D’ grade while Quintero rated it as “C-plus.”

Chavez’s perspective is that there is virtually no cooperation between the two local governments. He cited the county’s refusal to amend a tax-sharing agreement that expired in 2020.

Without this agreement, tax sharing must be approved one development project at a time in new areas by the city and county. The most recent split — 62% to 38% for the county — has been problematic for the city, which seeks a 50-50 split.

The councilmember also said that the city and county should have teamed up on a new animal shelter instead of each building independent facilities. He blamed county officials for the failure to build a consolidated shelter.

Quintero said that cooperation has improved but there is still room for it to get better.

Thursday’s debate was hosted by GV Wire, moderated by GV Wire News Director Bill McEwen, and produced by the Community Access Collaborative. View the full debate at this link.