The case for and against the Measure E sales tax proposal

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno County voters will decide on Measure E, a proposed new sales tax, on March 5.

"It's intended for Fresno State in order to further the mission of Fresno State, which directly impacts the quality of the region," Fresno State President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval told Action News.

The Measure E tax would add a penny on some $4 purchases for the next 25 years. It would not apply to rent, groceries, gas, or utilities.

The pennies would quickly add up -- totaling about $63 million a year, more than $1.5 billion altogether.

Voters already rejected a similar Measure E in 2022. Just over a year later, it is back with a higher tax for a longer time.

It comes as Jiménez-Sandoval says his aging campus needs help.

"We fix the basics or what is the most pressing. But pretty soon, you know, the building has to be fixed," Jiménez-Sandoval said. "Deferred maintenance at Fresno State is $500,000,000."

Deferred maintenance accounts for only one part of where all the tax revenue would go, however. Supporters say nearly three dozen other projects would further the school's educational mission.

Opponents point out that millions in tax revenue would also go to the salaries of a seven-person committee that would spend and oversee the money.

"We don't believe that $14 million needs to go to an oversight board," opponent Eric Payne said.

The unique proposal is uniting both sides of the aisle to come out against it.

"When was the last time you truly saw Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association stand alongside each other in principle and purpose," opponent Brooke Ashjian said.

The opponents do not all disagree with the need for some campus upgrades. But they say solutions should come from Sacramento or the CSU system.

That system appears to have plenty of resources available.

When the labor union representing CSU faculty went on a statewide strike in January, they said the CSU had over $8 billion in total reserves in 2022.

More than $6.5 billion of those assets were unrestricted.

"It isn't within the budget of the CSU to provide me with funds that allow me to plan ahead and to innovate," Jiménez-Sandoval said when pressed about the document.

Seemingly caught in the middle of the fight over Measure E are the roughly 24,000 Fresno State students.

Well over half are the first to attend college, and 86 percent of all students received a scholarship or grant this year.

Student and veteran Frederick Lisitsa says Fresno State has given him a chance, and he wants that for others.

"I would be working right now, and I wouldn't be developing myself the way that I am without the school having the programs that it does," Lisitsa said. He supports Measure E.

The previous version of Measure E that appeared on the ballot in 2022 failed by about 6,000 votes.

Supporters need 50 percent plus one vote for it to pass in March.

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