MENDOCINO CO., 6/24/26 — Mendocino County supervisors voted Tuesday to tear up the agreement that decides how property tax gets divided when a city annexes county land, a move that knocks the financial footing out from under the City of Ukiah’s proposed annexation.
The board voted to terminate the Master Tax Sharing Agreement, a 2024 deal that covers Mendocino County’s four cities: Ukiah, Willits, Fort Bragg and Point Arena.
The supervisors also directed staff to notify the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCo, which governs boundary alterations and district reorganizations,that the county believes the Ukiah annexation would put mandated public-safety services at “substantial risk.”
Without the agreement, the county would negotiate a tax split on each annexation individually — and could simply refuse a deal it considers harmful. That makes Tuesday’s vote a direct obstacle to Ukiah’s plan, which would roughly double the city’s footprint.
Chair Bernie Norvell cast the only no vote. He had co-sponsored bringing the item back, but argued the county should keep talking with Ukiah first — hire a consultant, hold a joint meeting, and terminate only if the talks went nowhere. Supervisor John Haschak’s motion to terminate now and skip what he called a premature meeting carried instead.
The board had taken up the question earlier. In June 2025, Supervisor Ted Williams brought the same resolution to terminate the agreement, but the board put the decision on hold — Norvell and Supervisor Madeline Cline asked for a year to meet and confer with Ukiah first. That year ran out this week. This time Cline sided with ending the agreement, leaving Norvell alone.
Public comment on the annexation ran long and was almost entirely from residents who live in the area Ukiah wants to absorb. They told the board they fear higher city fees and water bills and the loss of the rural life they bought into. They also decried a process they feel never asked whether they want to be part of the city.
“Be our voice,” one resident said. “We feel like they don’t care.”
The annexation fight was not the only place the county’s finances came up. In morning public comment, members of SEIU Local 1021 packed the chambers over the county’s offer of a 1% raise as their contract runs out June 30.
In other business Tuesday, the board:
- Received a staff report on the Ukiah annexation’s progress (item R8) before taking up the resolution to terminate the agreement.
- Recognized Human Resources Director Sherry Johnson for 15 years of service, with supervisors calling her work “a true contribution to this county.”
- Accepted the chief executive officer’s report. The CEO said the county met its June 18 deadline to respond to the state auditor’s findings, with those responses returning to the board July 7 along with a set of retroactive contracts.
- Heard from a resident who praised the county’s new grant writer for opening up funding for victims’ services.
During supervisors’ reports, Haschak said the Mendocino County Employees Retirement Association’s actuary has recommended lowering the assumed rate of return on the pension fund from 6.5 percent to 6.25 percent. He warned the change could add about $30 million to the county’s unfunded pension liability.
The annexation plan now goes back to Ukiah, which still has five years to draw a final map and bring it forward. Until it does, the county has no tax-sharing deal waiting on the other side.