A proposed tax measure from the Westside Community Health Care District Board of Directors was discussed during the Feb. 23 meeting.

The topic was brought up during a Jan. 26 meeting where a citizen group measure or a two-thirds majority option was presented, according to the meeting’s minutes. No specifics on the proposed referendum were provided during Monday’s meeting.

Nic Cardella, a lawyer at Fresno-based law firm Wagner Jones Helsley PC, recommended the board hold a special meeting next week if they want the measure to appear on the ballot for the June 6 primary election. He added that the meeting could discuss what the measure will focus on.

“If the board wants to pursue getting a special tax on the ballot for June 2, 2026, we would need to schedule a special meeting sometime next week,” Cardella said. “For right now, it’s either June 2, 2026, or the next opportunity would be November of 2028.”

In the past two election cycles, 2022 and 2024, the district failed to get a combined two-third majority from Stanislaus and Merced Counties. Measure D proposed a parcel tax of $69 per parcel, but failed after not getting a two-third majority from both counties. The district casted Measure A, which was the same Measure D, on the ballot two years later. It also didn’t meet the two-thirds requirement.

After the district failed its previous two attempts, board member Robert Vargas said during the January meeting that the measure’s parcel tax should “be re-examined, so the burden wasn’t on landowners with multiple parcels,” per the meeting’s minutes.

Board President David Varnell wanted district staff to look at possible options for the proposed measure, according to the January meeting minutes.