Madera County’s Board of Supervisors has consistently demonstrated a transparency and spending problem and has little trust from the public. Measure U is an unrestricted tax increase to the long-standing Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), which goes directly into the County’s General Fund and can be spent on anything, including County leaderships’ salary increases or another insanely expensive MADERA COUNTY sign on State Route 41. NONE OF THESE FUNDS are “protected” for safety at all, despite claims by County’s management during a recent public meeting I attended.
I grew up in Madera, live in Madera County, and care deeply about our communities. In my view, the Board of Supervisors has repeatedly made poor spending decisions with taxpayer dollars and should not be rewarded with more unrestricted tax dollars. Eastern Madera County’s communities have experienced visible decline and neglect, even as tourism has increased, and the County has collected TOT for decades, which totals tens of millions of dollars. Bass Lake’s county fire station still has no full-time staffing, despite its high tourism! Mountain communities see little visible benefit from TOT.
More than $7.9 million of the county’s approximately $8 million in annual TOT revenue comes from Eastern Madera County, and short-term vacation rentals generate 58 percent of the total. Our Residentially Zoned neighborhoods have become Hotel Zones, but without any rezoning. At least 10 percent of Oakhurst’s single-family homes are short-term vacation rentals with no permanent residents. As the County has focused on tourism and increasing TOT revenue, long-term rentals have become scarce, house prices have increased, school enrollment has declined, and restaurants and services have closed.
Airbnb and VRBO automatically remit TOT to the county from legal and illegal bookings made through their platforms. Illegally advertised and booked private RVs and trailers in yards, yurts and sheds also generate TOT for Madera County… things with no business licenses, no safety inspections and unknown liability insurance.
The County has granted some hotel owners rebates equal to 50 percent of their TOT payments, while hotel houses in neighborhoods pay the full TOT. The County has also declined to audit this tax, even though they acknowledge illegal TOT revenues are collected. We should all have concerns about how our County is managing this tax.
Residential zoning in Eastern Madera County is intended to protect neighborhoods, just as it does elsewhere in the county. Multiple neighborhoods have few residents, as they are now full of high-occupancy, nightly rental hotel houses, which increase traffic and create safety concerns. Neighborhoods are in high and very high fire hazard severity zones, and fires have occurred at vacation rentals. Guests also use advertised fire pits during summer, while no permanent resident is present to watch the property or respond quickly when problems arise.
Increasing TOT with Measure U has NOTHING TO DO WITH SAFETY and Measure U is NOT a Safety Tax.
VOTE NO ON MEASURE U!
— Kris Lile Hamilton,
North Fork