Visit Mendocino County’s contract has lapsed—and someone else wants in

MENDOCINO CO., 7/9/26 — Book a $200 night in Mendocino County outside city limits and two extra lines show up on the bill. One is a $20 room tax. The other is a $2 assessment. They look alike. They aren’t — and the smaller line is the one the county is arguing about.

The $20 is the transient occupancy tax, and it’s exactly what it sounds like: a tax. The county has charged it on hotel stays under 30 days since 1965, and the rate today is 10 percent. The money lands in the county general fund, where the Board of Supervisors can spend it on anything — sheriff’s deputies, roads, mental health.