{"id":382034,"date":"2026-07-01T12:35:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:35:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/382034\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T12:35:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:35:28","slug":"a-new-tax-fresno-county-leaders-approve-ballot-measure-for-hotel-rentals-levy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/382034\/","title":{"rendered":"A new tax? Fresno County leaders approve ballot measure for hotel, rentals levy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fresno County lawmakers will ask residents to pass a tax this November on hotels, short-term rentals and other temporary lodging that leaders say could add $4.55 million to the county\u2019s challenged coffers.<\/p>\n

Cities throughout the county already have a transient-occupancy tax, commonly called a TOT<\/a>, but the county\u2019s unincorporated areas do not. At 12%, the proposal would line up with the highest TOT in the San Joaquin Valley in Mariposa County, as well as rates charged by the cities of Clovis and Fresno.<\/p>\n

The board of supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve the special election ballot measure, which will need a 50% plus one vote for approval. The special election is Nov. 3 and coincides with the general election<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Leaders said the county is trying to make up for a shortfall that could be as much as $300 million<\/a> over the next three years under the Trump Administration\u2019s so-called \u201cBig Beautiful Bill\u201d by making cuts, asking the state for help, and generating new revenue. The TOT would be new dollars to help fill that hole though only a small percentage.<\/p>\n

Getting it on the ballot is estimated to cost almost a half-million dollars, according to county records.<\/p>\n

The tax applies to stays of 30 days or less so is not considered a burden on residents of the county. Paige Benavides, the county\u2019s budget director, said Fresno is one of just three counties in the state that does not have a TOT.<\/p>\n

The tax, if approved by voters, would only apply to rentals in the rural unincorporated areas and would not be stacked on top of the transient-occupancy taxes at rentals in cities that already have the toll.<\/p>\n

Representatives of Visit Fresno County<\/a>, a visitors bureau, have publicly supported for the tax.<\/p>\n

Supervisor Nathan Magsig said most of those rentals \u2014 60% to 70% \u2014 were in his district for properties in the foothills and near Millerton Lake or other recreational destinations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know in the mountain areas of Fresno County, we are seeing increased tourism, increased activities for residents and also calls for service,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Paige<\/p>\n

Paige Benavides, the Fresno County budget director, goes over a presentation on the proposed 12% transient-occupancy tax for rural hotels and other temporary lodging. The board of supervisors put it on the ballot for November, because the tax needs a simple majority from voters to become law.<\/p>\n

(THADDEUS MILLER\/tmiller@fresnobee.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresno County lawmakers will ask residents to pass a tax this November on hotels, short-term rentals and other…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[134296,112,622,114,113,15304,89316],"class_list":["post-382034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-county-records","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-county","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-mariposa-county","tag-unincorporated-areas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}