It certainly appears the coffers of Mariposa County are doing quite well when it comes to collection of taxes related to tourism.
Known as the transient occupancy tax, or TOT, the numbers for this fiscal year are quite strong and could even break a record.
“It is definitely not a dying business,” said Courtney Morrow, the Mariposa County clerk whose office is in charge of TOT collections.
There is also the TBID (Tourism Business Improvement District) tax, which goes to the Yosemite Mariposa Tourism Bureau, whose job it is to attract tourists to this area. Those collections, too, are healthy.
Currently, the TOT rate is 12 percent for hotel rooms, vacation rentals and more. That was raised from 10 percent in April 2019 — with the 2 percent specified for certain area of the county budget.
The TBID was raised from 1 percent to 1.5 percent in January 2021.
Since that time, the county has endured the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2022 Oak Fire, but the numbers have remained healthy even during those crises.
“TOT is strong and steady,” said Morrow.
The numbers
The numbers bear that out even though a lot of local chatter, especially on social media, indicates the county is in a budget crisis. Since the county’s budget relies more on TOT than any other in the state — and more than most in all of America — it appears the money is flowing in pretty well.
Mariposa County has, by far, the highest per-capita rate of TOT in California. In fact, Morrow said Mariposa County collects the fourth highest total amount of TOT out of the state’s 56 counties. (See related story.)
Morrow said there are many factors involved in why she thinks TOT revenue continues to grow, including, interestingly enough, the Covid-19 pandemic.
She said during Covid, people realized they could get a vacation rental and still be isolated as well as enjoy the outdoors. Morrow believes that has carried to this day and is why TOT and TBID remain strong in Mariposa County.
Looking at the numbers, with the two busy months of May and June still ahead, the 2026 fiscal year appears to be headed to a near-record amount.
In 10 months, which is July 2025 to April 2026, the county has collected $21,015,195 in TOT taxes. For the period from July 2024 to June 2025, total TOT collections were $24,266,680. That means the county would have to collect roughly $3.25 million in May and June to reach the previous year’s total.
Over the past four years, the average collection for those two months has been around $3.4 million.
What that means is the county is right on track to at least reach, or even surpass, the 2024-25 collections and even the 2023-24 collections, which were roughly $24.4 million, the highest since the rate was raised six years ago.
The same holds true for the TBID, where, to date from July 2025 through April 2026, collections are at $2,608,006.
Total TBID collections for the 2024-25 fiscal year was $3,033,620. If trends continue in May and June, that could be surpassed, as well.
The TBID tax has to be renewed on a regular basis and the next time is in 2028. Both the county and the local lodging entities are involved in that process.
Mariposa County’s total rate of 13.5 percent is fairly consistent with other areas but not as high as the larger metropolitan areas.
For example, San Francisco has a base rate of 14 percent but it can be as high as 16.7 percent in some areas.
Placer County’s rate is 11-12 percent, depending on the area. Part of the Lake Tahoe region is in Placer County. In the other county, El Dorado, the TOT rate is 10 percent in the unincorporated areas and 14 percent in Tahoe. That 4 percent is earmarked for maintenance and snow removal.
In nearby Madera County, the combined rate is 11.5 percent. Interestingly, the TOT in Madera County is 9 percent while the TBID is 2.5 percent.
According to the California Comptroller’s Office, the highest stand-alone TOT rate in the state is 14 percent in Marin County along with the base rate in San Francisco County.
One issue that cannot be ignored in Mariposa County is the amount of high-end properties where TOT and TBID taxes are collected.
The Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park, Tenaya Yosemite in Fish Camp, AutoCamp in Midpines and others have steep nightly fees, which leads to more money being collected per night.
Standard rooms at the Ahwahnee can run around $500 per night and can go to $1,000 or more a night for suites. Rates at Tenaya can also vary, ranging from $250 to $750 a night, or higher. The range at AutoCamp Yosemite ranges from under $200 a night to as high as $700, according to travel websites.
Many of the rates charged at area hotels and vacation rentals can also vary greatly depending on the season. Late spring, summer and early fall are generally when the higher rates are charged.
All of this, said Morrow, shows the strength of tourism — and the money that comes with it — remains strong.
“There is nothing in the numbers that causes concern,” she said.
The places
Looking at the specific types of rentals in the county, the numbers are eye opening.
According to Morrow, there are currently 919 “active certificates” for rentals. Some of those might not be renting, but it is difficult to determine because information is collected at various times of the year.
As it stands, there are 14 hotels, 13 motels and two lodges with active certificates. There are 33 bed and breakfast establishments, one apartment, two camps and one “glamping” certificate.
That leaves 853 locations classified as “transient rental/vacation rental,” she said.
That number has grown steadily over the years as vacation rentals have become more attractive, along with popular websites like Airbnb and VRBO.
The pandemic, as Morrow alluded to, also caused a spike in vacation rentals and that trend seems to be continuing.
County numbers crunch
The TOT numbers reveal the importance of how much the county relies on those monies for its general purpose funds.
Simple math can be used to determine the impact when it comes to local citizens.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the current population of Mariposa County is around 17,000 people.
Just using the TOT figures alone from 2024-25 which are around $24.3 million, that means for each resident of Mariposa County, collections represent $1,427 per person. Adding in the TBID which funds the tourism bureau, that number is $1,605 per person.
Those are funds that in most counties in the country would be paid by the taxpayers.
Breaking down the numbers within the county budget, however, is another exercise.
First and foremost is the Measure M funding which was passed by voters in 2019. That raised the TOT from 10 percent to 12 percent with the 2 percent being earmarked for law enforcement, fire and roads.
Leigh Westerlund, assistant county administrative officer who works extensively with the budget, said in the beginning, those funds were placed in a separate fund.
“Then people knew how much money we were collecting and transferring into the three departments.”
Then, she said, a decision was made to put that extra 2 percent back into the general purpose funding.
“At some point, we said it was just general purpose so let’s show it in the general fund in those departments,” she said.
Until it wasn’t.
“Then we changed our minds again and it went back into the separate funds,” she said.
Which is where it stands now.
That can cause some confusion to people who look at the current budget numbers.
According to current information on the county’s website, it shows anticipated collections of $20,017,175 in TOT for this fiscal year.
But the clerk’s office report shows that could be north of $24 million and approaching $25 million.
It’s that split, said Westerlund, is why the numbers differ from the clerk’s office collections to the county’s general purpose funding. The 2 percent funding is actually divided three ways and placed in the general funds of law enforcement, fire and public works.
She said each year, $426,000 goes to public works for roads and the “balance is for sheriff and fire.”
The total general purpose fund anticipated for this fiscal year is listed at just under $44 million. However, about $6.2 million is in the “transfer in” category, which is made up of various funds.
The recommended budget adopted by the board of supervisors shows $3.1 million transfered in through “reserve utilization.”
That means reserve funds required by the state that must meet a certain minimum, said Westerlund. The state requires at least two months of operating expenses in case of emergencies, said Westerlund.
This year’s transfer of $3.1 million is “not a best practice,” said Westerlund, but was used to balance the budget and is an issue that is examined closely during every budget cycle.
Another part of that “transfer in” category includes a “cost allocation” line item. This year’s budget shows around $2.8 million.
Westerlund explained that is generally from enterprise funds, like the landfill, where the county basically fronts those funds and they are paid back over the course of the year as money is taken in through fees and other methods.
Given all of those numbers, if the $3.1 million in reserves is taken from the total, it adds up to roughly $40.8 million of anticipated revenue outside those reserve funds.
If TOT collections keep pace with the past couple of years, it would mean somewhere in the neighborhood of $23 million for the current fiscal year. That means TOT, not counting the reserve transfers, would account for 56 percent of the total general purpose budget.
Even then, it is likely some of that reserve funding was generated by TOT in previous years, meaning the percentage of TOT which funds the general purpose budget is even higher.
“Probably a little more than half of the general purpose revenue,” is how Westerlund described what the county anticipates annually coming from TOT.
That looks pretty close for the current year and backs up Morrow’s assessment that TOT revenue is healthy and helping fund the county unlike other counties in California.
It also means that tourists play the most impactful role when it comes to having sufficient funding for county services. Funding for the sheriff’s office, fire department and public works all benefit from the onslaught of tourists that come to and through Mariposa County each year.
And the TOT numbers are just part of the equation. Those don’t account for sales tax revenues and other spending by people who are visiting. That includes restaurants, retail shops, fuel stations and much more.
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