Fresno County transportation measure clears signature threshold for November ballot

County Clerk and Registrar of Voters James Kus confirmed on April 14 that Fresno County’s Better Roads, Safe Streets campaign had delivered enough signatures to qualify its transportation measure for the November ballot.

Fresno County requires 21,909 valid signatures for a countywide initiative. The campaign reached that minimum on Wednesday and publicized the milestone on Thursday.

The measure would raise $7.4 billion over 30 years. It would send 65% of the money to existing neighborhood roads, 25% to public transportation, 5% to regional connectivity, 4% to access and innovation, and 1% to administration and oversight.

Fresno County Supervisor and Board Chair Garry Bredefeld is opposing the plan and called it a “poison pill” for taxpayers. Bredefeld wants 80% to 90% of the money devoted to fixing roads, not a package that also steers a quarter of the revenue to transit. He also wants a 20-year plan, not a 30-year plan, and plans to push for a fiscal analysis at the July 14 Board of Supervisors meeting. Bredefeld said that review could delay the measure until the 2028 election.

The ballot drive comes as Fresno County’s existing Measure C transportation program heads toward expiration in June 2027. Voters approved Measure C in 2006, and the half-cent sales tax was first established in 1986. A 2022 renewal plan would have guided slightly more than $6.84 billion over 30 years and generated about $228 million a year if renewed, backed by an Executive Committee, a Technical Working Group of about 80 people, public meetings, two opinion polls and thousands of surveys.

At the same time, Fresno County is developing a Safe Streets for All Action Plan to reduce transportation-related fatalities and serious injuries across the county and participating cities, funded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s FY 2023 SS4A grant program.