Fresno weighs tax plan as Measure C revenue nears expiration

Fresno City Councilmember Nelson Esparza announced a half-cent sales tax proposal at Fresno City Hall on July 23, and the City Council is scheduled to vote July 30 on whether to put it on the Nov. 3 ballot. The measure would raise about $65 million a year for city services without increasing the local tax burden, even as Fresno braces for the loss of Measure C revenue.

Measure C is Fresno County’s half-cent sales tax for transportation, with the current cycle running 2006-2026. It expires June 30, 2027, and the 2022 renewal plan would keep the same half-cent tax in place for 30 more years, from July 1, 2027 through June 30, 2057. County counsel’s impartial analysis put the extension’s revenue at about $6.84 billion. Measure C began in 1986 and delivered more than $1 billion in improvements during its first 20 years.

The money has long paid for roads, highways, transit, bike lanes, freeway ramps and other transportation projects across Fresno County. The county road maintenance division counts more than 3,400 miles of paved and unpaved roads in its network. In Fresno, Measure C dollars have already helped fund street paving, including $34 million in road improvements that began on McKinley Avenue from Chestnut to Peach.

A half-cent sales tax would be paid by shoppers buying taxable goods in Fresno, while the revenue would be used to keep city services from being squeezed as Measure C dollars fade out.

In January, mayors from across Fresno County and community members backed a new Measure C effort, another coalition gathered signatures for a competing transportation tax plan, and Fresno County supervisors challenged parts of the renewal process. Fresno’s proposal now joins that scramble, with the July 30 council vote set to determine whether city voters get their own half-cent tax question this November.