Measure C Citizen Oversight Committee

About Presentations:

Action: Review and comment, comment with edits, and vote to accept the March 5, 2026, Measure C Citizen Oversight Committee minutes.

Summary: The Measure C Citizens Oversight Committee previously elected Shannon Avilla as chair and Luis Herrera as vice chair of the Measure C Citizens Oversight Committee. The responsibilities of the chair and vice chair include, but are not limited to, running the Measure C COC meetings, organizing and writing the annual letter for the Measure C Annual Report, and other duties as necessary. Terms for the chair and vice chair are for one (1) year.

Action: The Measure C Citizens Oversight Committee will elect a new Chair and Vice Chair to serve until June 3, 2027.

Summary: Price Paige & Company Certified Public Accountants was retained by the Authority to perform the audit of finances on all local agencies receiving Measure C Extension revenue as required in the 2006 Measure C Extension Expenditure Plan. The firm has recently completed the audit of finances and submitted the final report for fiscal years ending June 30, 2022¹, June 30, 2023¹ and June 30, 2025¹, for the agencies listed below:

• FY22 City of Orange Cove
• FY23 City of Sanger
• FY25 Clovis Transit
• FY25 Fresno Airports
• FY25 Fresno COG
• FY25 City of Reedley

In summary the firm stated that overall, local agencies continue to adhere to the record keeping and reporting requirements, as well as proper expenditure of Measure C funds in accordance with provisions of the Measure C Transportation Sales Tax Extension. The remaining FY22 and FY23 agencies are all in process of their audits and are expected to be presented to the Committee at the next meeting.

Action: Review and provide comment.

Summary: California Public Utilities Code Section 142257 provides that the 2006 Measure C Extension Expenditure Plan shall specify the amount and the formula by which the retail transactions and use tax shall be allocated to each participating jurisdiction for Local Transportation Purposes. The 2006 Measure C Extension Expenditure Plan created a number of transportation programs to be implemented by participating jurisdictions with Measure C funds passed through from the Authority to the jurisdictions.

Consistent with adopted policy for administration of the funds, the Authority requested and received the annual estimate of Measure C funds from the Fresno County Auditor-Controller/ Treasurer-Tax Collector.

Based upon the annual estimate of total street miles from the California Department of Transportation, the annual estimate of population from the California Department of Finance, and the Measure C allocation formula as dictated by the 2006 Measure C Extension Expenditure Plan, the attached estimate of available funds and the annual apportionments has been calculated and included in Resolution 2026-01.

Action: This is informational only. No action is needed

Summary: The Measure C Citizens Oversight Committee is responsible for creating an annual letter that will be included in the Measure C Annual Report. This letter includes a review of projects presented to the Oversight Committee that used Measure C funds to ensure that expenditures relating to Measure C are spent within Measure C’s allowable expenses. Staff from Fresno Council of Governments and Fresno County Transportation Authority (FCTA) are not involved in creating the report to maintain an unbiased perspective.

Action: This is an information item only. No further action needed from the committee to approve the letter to the Measure C Annual Report.

Summary: The Original Measure does not fall under the purview of the COC. It is provided as a courtesy for reference to those services that are funded by both the Original and the Extension Measures.

This proposed 2026-27 Original Measure C budget has no estimated sales tax revenue during the fiscal year due to the expiration of the original Measure C sales tax levy in 2007. However, it is estimated to gain $1,950,000 in interest revenue which will be used to fund the remaining urban and rural projects.  Since there will be no sales tax revenue from the original Measure, the related administration will be funded with administrative reserves which are on deposit with the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector.  This reserve accumulated over the 20 years of the original Measure C to fund the transition to an extension of the tax measure, or to finance Authority close-out costs if the Measure were to have expired. Use of these funds to cover the administrative costs of ongoing Measure C projects is consistent with the intended use of these accumulated funds.  The proposed method of financing the administrative budget has been reviewed and accepted by Authority Legal Counsel and the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector’s office.

The overall budget for the original Measure C is very similar to last year’s budget with no new efforts planned. The proposed administrative salary, benefits and administrative support and services cost budget is $268,860. This proposed administrative budget reflects 50% of the salary and benefits of one employee (the Program Manager) with the remaining 50% paid out of the Measure C Extension Program.  The services and supplies that pertain to the Original Measure C Program have also been split by a 70/30 percentage between the Original (30%) and Extension (70%).  Salary and Benefits reflect the currently approved salary structure plus 5% potential salary increase.

A narrative explaining the purpose of each expense is provided for each line item within the budget.

Action: This is an informational item. No action is necessary.

Summary: This proposed 2026-27 Measure C Extension budget includes estimated sales tax revenue and interest earnings to be received during the 2026-27 fiscal year of $125,256,920, a $4.14 million increase over last year’s approved budget. This revenue estimate reflects a conservative 1% projected increase over 2025-26 actual revenues due to considerable uncertainty regarding the economic outlook over the near-term because of domestic trade, fiscal and monetary policy uncertainty, geopolitical uncertainty driven by the Iran conflict and California’s continued constraints on housing due to workforce shortages, tariff-related input costs and financing conditions. The 2025-26 budget reflected a 2% increase in revenue and was forecasted to be $111,816,558 but the actual revenue came in at $112,828,634, 2.04% over the actual 2024-25 revenue of $110,090,498.

The budget includes approximately $11.3 million in interest income.

This Measure C Extension revenue projection is the result of a collaborative effort between the Fresno County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector’s office and the Authority’s financial advisor, Montague DeRose Associates, which took into consideration local and Statewide financial expectations.

The proposed administrative salary and benefits budget request is $598,510. This proposed budget reflects 100% of the cost of two employees (the Executive Director and the Contracts Administrator) and 50% of the cost of one employee (the Program Manager) at the currently approved salary structures plus 5% potential salary increase. The remaining 50% of the Program Manager’s salary is funded through the original Measure C. Measure C enabling legislation limits salary and benefits to 1% of total revenues.

The total proposed Administrative Budget, which includes employee salary and benefits as well as other administrative costs and unallocated reserves, is $1,130,247. The Administrative Budget shares all office expenses and support services needed to fulfill the administrative duties of all three employees at a 70% Extension/30% Original split.  As with prior years, the balance of the 1% of total revenues allowed for salary and benefit costs by the enabling legislation is recommended to be reserved to build up funds to finance agency closedown if required, or transition to another Extension in 2027.

The 2026-27 Extension budget also proposes Services and Supplies expenditures in the amount of $932,200.  This budget category provides the services needed to deliver the overall Measure C Program and for the most part reflects actions previously approved by the Board.  Where appropriate, Services and Supplies expenses are prorated between the FCTA Original Measure and the Extension to reflect actual service to each.  Examples of services funded in this category include:

• Legislative Advocate
• Financial Advisor
• Outreach Program
• Self Help County Organization membership dues
• Accounting & Legal Services
• Audit expense

The remainder of the proposed Extension budget is similar to the 2025-26 budget and consists of pass-through funding to participating jurisdictions for all categories of projects and programs identified as eligible pass-through activities.

The proposed budget also identifies the undistributed reserve allocations for programs or projects that are not ready to proceed at this time.  These funds will continue to be retained by the Authority in separate accounts until reimbursement agreements are approved and claims submitted.

Action: Receive, review and provide comment. (A vote of approval is not necessary.)

Summary: The RTMF revenue projection is the result of a collaborative effort between the Fresno County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector’s office and RTMF Agency staff, which took into consideration projected development activity in Fresno County during the FY2026-27 fiscal year.  The fee income identified in this budget is the result of applying the RTMF fee schedule, as updated by the Board in January 2020, to the development activity estimated to take place during the upcoming fiscal year.

There are no proposed administrative salaries, benefits, or support costs proposed in this budget because the fee is calculated and collected by the RTMF Agency.  Costs associated with RTMF Administration are also covered by a separate fee imposed and collected by the RTMF Agency.

As has been mentioned in previous budget presentations, Fresno County has been fortunate to receive previously unanticipated State and federal grants for local transportation projects.  Although these grants allowed for early delivery of projects, they required local matching funds.  Some of this local match was planned to be funded through the RTMF fee revenue. However, due to the 2008 recession, and the fact that RTMF fee collections typically lag project needs, sufficient funds had not yet been collected.  Rather than forgo the grant funding, COG and the Authority chose to deliver those projects early using money loaned to the RTMF fund from the original and extension Measure C funds.  It remains the intent of both the Authority and COG that these loans will be repaid by the RTMF Fund to the Measure C funds.

The RTMF fund currently has an uncommitted fund balance of $6,202,903 in cash and the budget under consideration today proposes to continue repaying the RTMF loans by transferring this current fiscal year’s uncommitted fund balance to Measure C in FY2026-27.  Annual payback will include the prior year uncommitted fund balance minus the anticipated Administrative Expenditures.  This payback process will continue annually to service the outstanding loan balance.  The current outstanding principal loan balance as of March 31, 2026, is $75,804,341 which reflects the total prior years payback of $55,926,210 against the principal. This budget is the continuation of that repayment effort.

The FY2026-27 RTMF budget identifies an estimated $5,200,000 in fee collection revenue based on recent development activity in Fresno County and $162,708 in interest earnings.  The final category of resources available to deliver the RTMF construction program in FY2026-27 is $7,837,292 in Measure C Loans that are estimated to be needed to service on-going contracts in the coming year.  These funds are available, if needed, to pay costs as they come due for on-going contracts and will be added to the outstanding $75,804,341 Measure C loan identified above to be amortized over the remaining life of the fee program.  Combining all the above listed resources, results in a total of $19,402,903 available to deliver the FY2026-27 RTMF Program.

The expenditure side of the proposed FY2026-27 RTMF Budget identifies $13,200,000 for R/W and construction of projects, $15,000 for Services and Supplies which is made up of an estimated $5,000 for legal services and $10,000 for Consultant Services to update the Strategic Implementation Plan as needed to reflect the changes resulting from the 2026 Measure C Expenditure Plan update and $6,187,903 in Measure C RTMF Loan payback program.

To date, nearly $71 million of RTMF funds have been collected to help fund critical Measure C infrastructure projects.

Action: Receive, review and provide comment. (A vote of approval is not necessary.)

Summary: This portion of the Agenda is reserved for any current Committee member to address one another on items within its jurisdiction but not already on the agenda.

Action: No action needed. This is an information item.

A. Upcoming 2026 COC meeting dates – please reserve these dates from 5-7:00 pm

• July 1
• August 5
• September 2
• October 7
• November 4
• December 2

B.  Items for the next agenda

C.  Upcoming Meetings/Events of other related Boards/Committees

June

• Fresno County Transportation Authority Board Meeting – Wednesday, June 10, at 9:00 AM in-person at Fresno Council of Governments Sequoia Conference Room
• Fresno COG Transportation Technical Committee – Friday, June 12, at 8:30 AM in-person at Fresno Council of Governments Sequoia Conference Room
• Fresno COG Policy Advisory Committee – Friday, June 12, at 10:00 AM in-person at Fresno Council of Governments Sequoia Conference Room
• Fresno COG Policy Board – Thursday, June 25, at 5:30 PM in-person at Fresno Council of Governments Sequoia Conference Room

July

• Fresno COG Transportation Technical Committee – Friday, July 10, at 8:30 AM in-person at Fresno Council of Governments Sequoia Conference Room
• Fresno COG Policy Advisory Committee – Friday, July 10, at 10:00 AM in-person at Fresno Council of Governments Sequoia Conference Room
• Fresno COG Policy Board – Thursday, July 30, at 5:30 PM in-person at Fresno Council of Governments Sequoia Conference Room