Riverside County voters will decide on November 3 whether to renew Measure A, the half-cent sales tax that has bankrolled road repairs, freeway projects and public transit across the county since 1988 — more than a decade before the current tax is even scheduled to expire. The early ask has put transportation officials, civic leaders and a pair of local business voices on opposite sides of a question that sounds simple but isn't: lock in the money now, or wait and see.
According to the Riverside County Transportation Commission, the renewal would continue the existing half-cent sales tax rate without any increase, and is projected to generate about $280 million a year for transportation projects and services. The measure funds local street and road improvements, freeway and highway work, and public transportation services, the commission says, and it does so without raising the rate voters have paid since Measure A was last renewed in 2002, according to Coachella Valley Weekly.
The timing is the sticking point. Riverside County's current sales tax authority is set to run out in 2039 — RCTC materials put the cutoff at June 30 of that year, while the measure's own expenditure ordinance lists March 31, 2039, so the exact end date isn't entirely consistent even in the agency's own paperwork. Either way, that's roughly 13 years of runway left, which is exactly what NBC Palm Springs reports gave Barton CPA chief operating officer Chauncey Thompson pause when he first considered the ballot question.
A Skeptic Comes Around
Thompson, speaking with Roggin Report host Fred Roggin alongside education and sales director Jerry Granata, initially questioned why voters needed to extend a tax that still had more than a decade left on the clock, per the same NBC Palm Springs report. But Thompson told the program he changed his position, pointing to projected population growth and the need for advance planning as reasons to settle the funding question well ahead of the deadline. He said locking in revenue now would mean that planned investments beyond the next 13 years already have funding in place, and he argued that making Measure A permanent could offer more long-term certainty for transportation planning — eliminating, he said, the need for voters to revisit the issue every few decades.
Granata was less convinced. He told the program that years of Measure A tax revenue have not resolved ongoing road and traffic problems, and said he remains concerned that congestion persists despite decades of dedicated funding. Thompson, for his part, acknowledged that extending the tax now may not deliver immediate relief for stalled projects — the money secures future funding rather than accelerating work already behind schedule, according to NBC Palm Springs.
The Numbers Behind the Pitch
The scale of the county's unfunded needs is part of what's driving the renewal push. RCTC's commission briefing book cites a Traffic Relief Plan identifying more than $30 billion in transportation improvements needed across the county over the next 30 years — a plan the agency describes as currently unfunded. The same document notes Riverside County's population has grown 67% since 2002, when Measure A was last renewed, and is projected to add another 500,000 residents, reaching 3 million by 2050.
Since 1988, Measure A has generated more than $3.1 billion for transportation projects and services, according to Patch. Between 2010 and 2023 alone, more than $827.2 million was disbursed to cities and the county for roadway repairs, street projects and regional connections, per RCTC. The tax also supports nine public transit service providers, 18 community-based service operators and Metrolink, the Inland Empire Business Daily reports, and supporters say it provides matching funds that help the county compete for state and federal transportation grants.
Interchanges, I-10 and the Price Tag of Waiting
NBC Palm Springs reports that CVAG — the Coachella Valley Association of Governments — is planning seven major interchange projects estimated to cost $1.7 billion, and that available transportation construction funds are projected to run out. Thompson identified Interstate 10 as an area in particular need of forward-looking transportation planning, and said CVAG should keep pressing state and federal officials for additional funding even as local dollars get locked in. He also said the county's nine cities should participate fairly in local transportation investments funded through the measure.
Whether the renewal translates into faster progress on backlogged projects, or mainly guarantees funding for needs beyond 2039, is the open question hanging over the campaign, as NBC Palm Springs frames it. The renewal itself would preserve direct allocations to all 28 cities and the county's unincorporated areas for eligible local street and road projects, Coachella Valley Weekly reports, and would add new guardrails: a taxpayer oversight committee, required annual audits and public financial reviews, and a cap limiting administrative salaries and staff benefits to no more than 1% of annual net revenue, according to RCTC.
A Statewide Pattern of Ballot Asks
Riverside County isn't alone in going back to voters over transportation funding this cycle. Neighboring San Bernardino County has its own half-cent sales tax, Measure I, which funds road repairs, freeway improvements and public transit and is otherwise set to expire March 31, 2040 unless voters extend it, according to Community Forward Redlands. That measure, which generates an estimated $250 million annually, would keep its rate unchanged while eliminating its expiration date entirely, pending two-thirds voter approval — a notably different approach from Riverside's bid to simply push its sunset date further out.
The broader trend extends beyond the Inland Empire. More than 30 cities or districts in Los Angeles and Orange counties have their own tax measures on the November 3 ballot, covering sales, hotel, business, parcel and utility taxes, according to LAist. Local governments across Southern California have cited stagnant revenues that haven't kept pace with rising insurance, maintenance, infrastructure and pension costs, though LAist also notes that sales tax measures specifically are becoming less common as agencies bump up against legal and voter-tolerance limits.
As a special tax, Riverside's Measure A renewal requires approval from two-thirds of county voters, per Coachella Valley Weekly — the same threshold the original 2002 renewal needed to pass. The ordinance governing how the money can be spent restricts it strictly to transportation purposes, including roads, highways, public transit, planning, engineering and right-of-way acquisition, leaving the ultimate outcome in the hands of voters heading to the polls on November 3.
