Early returns Tuesday night showed Fresno County voters rejecting a new tax on hotel stays and short-term rentals. Lodging tax measures in Madera County, Coalinga and Farmersville held slim leads.
All results are preliminary, and several jurisdictions still had precincts outstanding.
Fresno County
Measure A would put a 12% transient occupancy tax (TOT) on short-term lodging in unincorporated Fresno County. It trailed 54.73% to 45.27%, with 60,258 no votes and 49,852 yes votes. The county’s first report showed 0 of 396 precincts reporting. It counted 116,525 ballots, or 22.03% of registered voters.
Fresno County is one of three California counties that does not tax hotel rooms, short-term rentals such as Airbnbs and RV parks. The tax was projected to bring in about $4.5 million a year for the county’s general fund. County officials said the money was needed to help offset $70 million to $300 million in revenue losses tied to President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” KVPR reported.
The county tax would not have applied in Fresno, Clovis or other cities that levy their own TOT.
In Sanger, Measure B was losing badly, 65.75% to 34.25% (1,488 to 775). In Coalinga, Measure J led by 10 votes, 580 to 570.
Madera County
Measure U would raise the county’s TOT from 9% to 11%. As of 8:46 p.m., it led 51.72% to 48.28% (7,925 to 7,397), with 12 of 42 precincts reporting.
KVPR reported that the increase is expected to bring in an extra $1.78 million a year. The county collected $7.6 million in hotel tax revenue in 2024, according to state data cited by KVPR. The tax applies only in unincorporated areas, not in Madera or Chowchilla. Much of the county’s short-term lodging is in Oakhurst and Bass Lake.
Madera County Supervisor Bobby Macaulay, speaking at the State of Madera County event Oct. 29, said revenue from the transient occupancy tax increase would go into the county’s general fund to help maintain public safety services.
“The county needs to look to other revenue sources so that we can ensure we maintain … stable services,” Macaulay said.
Macaulay said the county reached a tax-sharing agreement with Outbound Yosemite, which owns a hotel in the Oakhurst area and wanted to expand but didn’t have the capital. Under the deal, the county will share transient occupancy tax revenue with the developer, and the project is growing from a 15-room boutique hotel to a 120-room conference center. Macaulay said the conference center should help the county draw visitors outside the busy May-through-August season, so small businesses can keep employees on year-round.
Kings County
Lemoore’s Measure P would raise the city’s TOT from 8% to 12%. It trailed 52.07% to 47.93% (1,935 to 1,781), with all 15 city precincts reporting in Kings County’s first semi-official report.
According to the resolution placing the measure on the ballot, the increase would bring in an extra $512,000 a year, KVPR reported. Voters in neighboring Hanford rejected a similar 8%-to-12% increase in June.
Tulare County
In Farmersville, Measure P led 260 to 252 (50.78% to 49.22%), with 2 of 5 precincts reporting.
The measure would set a 10% tax on short-term guests, the same rate as neighboring Visalia. The city has no hotels. Interim City Manager Kevin Northcraft told KVPR that city leaders hope one is built along Highway 198 and want the tax in place first. A city analysis projects $250,000 a year for the general fund “once a moderate sized facility is operational,” KVPR reported.
This is Farmersville’s third try at passing a TOT, after two earlier measures failed.
