FRESNO, Calif. – From sprawling Fresno County to the tiny Tulare County town of Farmersville, voters throughout the San Joaquin Valley are being asked on their November ballots if tourists should be taxed.
Fresno County is one of three California counties that does not levy taxes on hotel rooms, short-term rentals like Airbnbs and RV parks, according to county staff.
That would change next year if a majority of the county electorate approves Measure A, which calls for a 12% transient occupancy tax on all short-term lodging in unincorporated areas.
The tax – which is charged to the customers, not the owners – is projected to generate roughly $4.5 million annually for the county’s general fund.
County officials say the extra fees are much-needed as they look to offset between $70 million and $300 million in revenue losses resulting from President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Many cities already impose their own transient occupancy tax (TOT). The cities of Fresno and Clovis, for example, levy a 12% transient occupancy tax on hotel rooms and short-term lodging. The county’s proposed tax would not be stacked on top of the existing TOT within those two cities or other incorporated areas.
“To me, this is really a fairness question,” Fresno County Supervisor Luis Chavez said during the June 30 board meeting. “Folks are coming in here using our infrastructure, our roads, our emergency [services], utilities and all things of that sort. I think it’s fair to ask folks that come into our community to pay for that.”
While 78 hotels and motels operate in Fresno and Clovis, according to the Fresno/Clovis Convention & Visitors Bureau, Farmersville doesn’t have any.
Still, that hasn’t prevented the Tulare County town of 10,000 residents from placing its own TOT on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Located along Highway 198, Farmersville is one of the gateway cities outside Sequoia National Park.
Interim city manager Kevin Northcraft said city leaders are hopeful a hotel gets built along 198 and want the tax in place beforehand.
According to a city analysis, the proposed tax would generate $250,000 annually for the general fund “once a moderate sized facility is operational.” There is only one Farmersville property listing on Airbnb.
Revenues would be used for general city services including public safety, road maintenance and parks.
Like neighboring Visalia, Farmersville would charge a 10% tax on short-term guests under Measure P.
This is Farmersville’s third attempt at passing a TOT following two prior failures.
“People hear those two words – transient and tax – and they immediately get the wrong impression” that the city is attracting unhoused individuals and residents will pay the tax, Northcraft said. “We need to do a better job of educating people this time around.”
Besides Fresno County and Farmersville, residents of Madera County and the Kings County City of Lemoore will also vote on hotel tax measures over the next few weeks.
Madera County’s Measure U proposes to increase the TOT from 9% to 11%. The county took in $7.6 million from its hotel tax in 2024, according to state data, and the proposed bump is expected to generate an additional $1.78 million in annual revenues in the next fiscal year.
The tax would apply only to unincorporated areas, and not within the cities of Madera or Chowchilla. Many of Madera County’s short-term lodgings are in the unincorporated communities of Oakhurst and Bass Lake.
Officials say the increased tax would be used to bolster public safety, disaster response and other services.
“We have to keep up with what is going on or we will lose what is most precious to us, and that’s the peace and safety we have in this community,” Madera County Supervisor Robert Poythress said during the Sept. 15 Board meeting.
In Lemoore, officials are asking voters to bump the city’s TOT from 8% to 12%. The increased tax would generate an additional $512,000 in annual revenues, according to the resolution placing Measure P on the ballot.
Interestingly, residents of neighboring Hanford defeated a similar measure in June that would’ve also increased that city’s hotel tax from 8% to 12%.
Transient occupancy taxes are a key source of revenues for many communities.
That is certainly the case in Mariposa County, where a 12% TOT generated $24.7 million during the last fiscal year thanks in large part to lodgings in and around Yosemite National Park.
Mariposa County’s budget for 2025-26 was $161 million, meaning more than 15% came from the tax.
The $24 million generated by Mariposa County in 2024 from its TOT nearly equaled the $25 million Los Angeles County took in from its hotel tax, according to state data.
