MENDOCINO CO., 12/19/25 –A state audit of Mendocino County released Thursday found that the county is facing persistent budget deficits, has not had sufficient oversight of spending, and had faulty processes that led to ballot errors in the 2024 primary election.
The state Legislature passed a bill last year requiring the California State Auditor to perform an audit of Mendocino County by the start of 2026. The audit cited media reports that “indicated that Mendocino has struggled financially and that errors occurred in the county’s administration of the 2024 presidential primary election.”
On the issue of the county’s finances, the nearly 100-page report audit found that Mendocino as of this month had $30.6 million in uncollected taxes, penalties, interest and fees related to default properties, and also “will continue to face persistent deficits if it does not take additional action to address its budget deficit, such as raising tax rates.”
Mendocino County also “has not exercised sufficient oversight of staff spending that would best protect it against waste, fraud, and abuse,” according to the audit, which alleged that the county District Attorney’s Office may have violated state laws when $3,600 in public asset forfeiture funds were spent on an end-of-year event at a steakhouse for staff and their guests.
The audit also highlighted problems with the county’s administration of the 2024 primary election, in which its ballot printing vendor issued incorrect ballots to nearly every one of the more than 50,000 voters in the county. Shortly after resolving that error, another problem was found in which some voters were not placed in their correct districts, so more corrected ballots had to be sent out.
The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors plans to hold a public workshop in mid-January to discuss the audit and its recommendations, though the board’s response to the audit noted that some of the recommendations involve independently elected county officials.
District Attorney David Eyster’s response to the allegations involving his office said its use of asset forfeiture funds was legal since the use of those funds is “within the prosecution core functions and discretion afforded to elected district attorneys statewide.”
The response said, “The District Attorney and his staff will continue to evaluate the audit’s recommendations, implement improvements where appropriate, and ensure that all financial and operational practices remain firmly within the bounds of law.”
County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector Chamise Cubbison in her response said she largely agrees with the audit’s recommendations and noted her office “was understaffed for most of the reviewed period and experienced several changes in leadership, the loss of decades of institutional knowledge and changes in leadership styles and priorities.”
The county elections office in its response to the audit said it is working with contractors to remedy errors in time for elections in 2026.
Thanks for the laugh Mr. Eyster.
So the county gets to wildly spend and waste our tax dollars and the remedy is to raise taxes again on the taxpayers of Mendocino County? I call BS! They have no concern about forcing out and bankrupting our counties citizens from their overtaxation. I’d like to see a comparison in what Humboldt and Lake County residents pay in taxes compared to Mendocino County residents. The BOS misappropriates millions on their pet projects and wild ideas and fantasies to generate tax dollars by making Mendocino some kind of Cannabis hub. It’s spending after spending and failure after failure. Yet, they continue to salivate at the thought of getting big taxes from their wild failed ideas. They refuse to acknowledge, accept, or correct their failures. Tens of Millions wasted every year and they are still clueless.
It’s less the over taxation and more the lack of potency your tax dollars do for you thanks to your local politics (and elected officials).
-Prop 13 is a massive discount on property taxes to long time established homeowners. Mendo has many of them (back to the land movement folks, boomers, and established) going back to the days of the 70s, & 80s.
-Most of the County’s tax base is sales tax and TOT.
-Local politician egos definitely are putting a dent in the cost side of the county’s budgets, but so are the local politics to a even larger degree.
-Mendocino County disproportionately has too many people based on limited incomes (retirees) and/or life long tax dodgers (Black market cannabis growers and Jeffersonians) that vocalize demands, but not solutions to cost reconciliation in their communities. That attitude reflects inside the county culture dynamic, which is why this county has a inconvenient state audit displaying this government’s ‘faking it till they make it’ mantra, and years of high turnover from fairly important depts that shouldn’t be turning over so much staff.
-Locals grumble at the idea of a new development in the area regardless of what it is in their perception. Then they (locals) want their roads fixed, and on what tax base?
-The County budget projects a downward fall in tax revenue leading to declining services that we already know.
It is possible that Mendocino needs a more diversified economics/business model to balance the tax revenue shortfalls along with more cooperation with its strongest economic centers (like Ukiah). Mendocino County is difficult to govern and that’s putting it lightly. Wine is in the past as consumption has been falling (along w/ subsidized water being no longer an option for the local AG industry). Cannabis is increasingly competitive with new players in the market and too many growers not being serious about legalization. Mendo Cannabis missed the boat.
Join the 58 Counties of California in Returning Back to the Original California Constitution, founded in 1849. For more info: https://californiarepublic1849.com
In two years my taxes went from $14,00 to $16,00 why??? I saved $150 a month for my taxes at end of year. Now I have to find a way to save $170 a month.very hard on a fixed income.
Maryly Turner – Which taxes?
Property Taxes? – Call the Assessor’s office.
Mendocino County needs to take a good look at these high salaries being paid to top Administrators within both the County and City which includes the Board of Supervisors. For years Mendocino County has been a Welfare County, compound that with the loss of many of our Mills and the loss of our fishing industry on the coast which put many people out of work causing them to leave the area and then having the County make poor decisions on letting in clean industries in to help support Mendocino County well then you have what you have. Both the County combined with the City of Ukiah continues to over spend and mismanage while making poor decisions. Just take a look at downtown Ukiah and what a mess it has become with its beautification project and then the City wants to press annexation into the County which would only serve to reduce the County’s revenue while increasing taxes and costs to all of us who currently reside within the county’s jurisdiction. I mean come on City of Ukiah cannot even take care of their own areas that they have now and on top of everything else their have their own financial issues to top it off, and with the City of Ukiah having now taken over most of the Water Districts within the Ukiah, Calpella and Redwood Valley areas and having stated that they intend to drastically increase our water rates I mean come on people how much more of this do you want. It is time to say enough yank their chains and hold them accountable for their poor mismanagement, judgment calls and spending habits. Both County and City services are failing and have declined horribly through the more current years and yet they want more money while continuing to put out less, but hey they continue to build more low income housing projects one after another instead of creating something for the middle class worker bees who supports everyone. Having grown up and lived within this community for years I can truthfully say that it is not the old timer/retirees/baby boomers that are the problem because most of us worked for a living it is the continued generations of welfare and within more recent years all the illegals and homeless that have migrated into our county many of them employed by the cartel that has become the issue. It used to be if you were hired for a job you were expected to show up to work on time, dress appropriately and not call in for every hang nail day off, know the job you were hired for and do it correctly. Today we council for bad behavior what a concept. Once we were known for our agricultural, timber and fishing communities now we are known for our green dope community, this is not rocket science people, do the math.
Still looking at the past? Ukiah is better managed (even with its flaws) than the county. This is the dystopian grumbling attempting to mislead the direction of the narrative. Downtown Ukiah is getting a makeover (long overdue). Perhaps not in your image but of one for the incoming generation. What has the County done equally well over the last two decades? Ukiah, even during these rough times, has been retrofitting its urban core areas and getting the much needed modern Courthouse. Many county residences living in Ukiah’s outer suburbs (county parcels) already pay the taxes to the City of Ukiah without the benefits of the city services and development. Ukiah has built up its water district and is much more efficient with its water use than being on a well, which will become increasingly clear as Scott’s valley dam comes down.
Mendocino rural users have been privileged with cheap water for nearly a century all paid for by Northern CA utility users. The cost of the cheap water brought down the fish population along with the fishing industry in this region. The Mills in Canada can make lumber much cheaper than in the US due to geography and demographics. It’s not a conspiracy that a resource extraction economy has limits and Mendo surpassed those limits many years ago.
Housing affordability is difficult for varying reasons and housing now is going to look more different than it has in the past. Property insurance rates are surging due to environmental causes, and suburban development in fire prone areas. Not to mention Boomers still mostly living in the same house they bought 30 plus years ago (w/ prop 13 tax discounts) while working diligently to block new housing or any development (NIMBY).
There are some truths in regards to the wages of the elected and appointed heads but the Ukiah city council, unlike the BOS, has little to no wages for they job they do. The BOS does make a career level wage. There are pros and cons to this. The bigger picture issue is to develop a new economy not wholesale dependent on resource extraction (lumber, AG, Fishing, etc). The world needs more tech savvy people and more doctors, nurses, and trades people. Keep in mind most of the homeless are locals from this area and were born and raised here in Mendo and Lake county. Many young folk born and raised here leave for better opportunities. The ones that stay either have legacy wealth or become part of the struggling lower middle class. Mendo is a rough place to make a living in if you are just out of school. Let alone the lack of appealing activities for young people to indulge in around these parts. A more vibrant downtown Ukiah may be the beginning of a new heart beat to bring life back to the urban cores. People are social creatures and living out on the fringing is not good for mental health.
Exactly. Even in a previous article about the seasonal ice rink in Ukiah, the idea was touched upon: where does the income from the ice rink go? If everything is donated for that event, who profits? School street? This is just a drop in the proverbial bucket. There’s zero transparency!
In essence: Ukiah’s rink operates as a seasonal attraction, relying on user fees and sponsorships, but its high operating expenses make its net financial benefit a recurring topic of discussion in the community.
So it really irks me the county assessors office is sending out requests to self report all the little out buildings on rural properties so they can up the property taxes. They can’t even be bothered to get our of their offices to come look see themselves. Instrad they send out the worst satelite photos of what they think they don’t know about.
In my neck of the woods they barely provide any services without cajoling or if there might be some glory in it for them. When news like this is reported I am less inclined to feel good they want more, more, morefor less services.
$30.6 Million in delinquent property taxes and fees….I would love to see some follow-up reporting breaking this down more, offering economic analysis, telling what steps are being taken to recover this revenue and whether there are annual tax sales to clear the roles. Has the cost higher cost of insurance caused some owners to abandon property or stop paying taxes on it? To what degree is this a problem that is broader than our county, I wonder. I could be wrong, but I think slashing salaries and slashing positions would be a mistake if we can make up some of the problem with more revenue. Thanks for the story.
Rural people straight up just don’t want to pay for permits for sheds and out buildings built, especially if there’s no reason (such as adding resale value to your home.)
Mendocino”s Tax Collection would normally do auctions on long defaulted properties but no auctions have been done since June 2019. Look back to your elected heads because they do have answers but may not be open to divulging that information.
Mendo’s Assessor has serious difficulty keeping up with rural areas due to the difficulty of driving to each location. Locked gates, long winding roads, bad weather, unresponsive owners, office employee turn-over, and dishonest owners all play a role in slowing down assessment processes. Covelo, Legett, Laytonville, and etc takes a while to verify structures on a parcel. Not to mention the numerous non-permitted building scattered all over the county and are often found in unrelated circumstances.