Fresno City Council approves 10-year tax-sharing MOU with Fresno County, 6-1

The Fresno City Council on Dec. 13 approved a 10-year memorandum of understanding with the County of Fresno on how property and sales tax will be shared for future annexations and development, voting 6-1 at a special meeting to send the agreement to the county for consideration next week.

Council President Perea said the agreement will provide “surety and the continuity that our city needs to responsibly move forward,” while stressing the MOU itself does not approve any specific development project or annexation. The council approved the measure as File ID 24-1699.

The agreement revises tax splits that would apply to future annexations and defines different splits by area. Under the negotiated terms the city’s share of property tax in the Southeast Development Area would increase from 38% to 51%; the city’s share outside that area would rise in many cases from 38% to 40%. The MOU also includes a negotiated sales-tax adjustment from 5.35% to 5.0% that city staff estimated would retain about $500,000 annually for Fresno.

Why it matters: City leaders said the MOU ends years of uncertainty on tax sharing that they said has delayed development and deprived the city of predictable revenue for services such as police and fire. Mayor Dyer and other…