Mendocino County Farm Bureau announces opposition to annexation proposal

Editor-

The Mendocino County Farm Bureau (MCFB) is a non-governmental, non-profit, voluntary membership, advocacy group whose purpose is to protect and promote agricultural interests throughout the county and to find solutions to the problems facing agricultural businesses and the rural community. MCFB is submitting comments on the City of Ukiah’s proposal for annexation and reorganization.  

Mendocino County Farm Bureau is opposed to the City of Ukiah’s Annexation plan. We have serious reservations regarding the scope and scale of the annexation plan and deep concern regarding the negative fiscal implications this would have for County finances. Mendocino County Farm Bureau’s stated mission is to protect and promote agricultural interests in our county and to preserve our rural character. Such a rapid expansion of the  City of Ukiah would endanger farmland through urban sprawl that would lead to an increase in conflicts between agricultural producers conducting everyday farming activities and neighboring urban residents. Rural residential residents would see the rights and entitlements they currently enjoy being eroded, their taxes increasing, and the rural character of our community destroyed. 

The County is experiencing serious financial hardships and structural deficits. It is struggling to finance and provide many of the core services, such as law enforcement and road maintenance, that residents look to the County to provide. If the City of Ukiah’s annexation plan is approved, it would have extremely negative consequences for the  County’s budget to the detriment of its ability to provide services. Rural residents in unincorporated areas would see a profound decline in County services and quality of life would decline as a result. 

Even for the residents that would be annexed or live near the City of Ukiah, it is unlikely that annexation would be beneficial. We have serious doubts that the City of Ukiah’s is able to provide at minimum the same level of service that the County currently delivers, much less provide better. MCFB is requesting that the County conduct an in-depth analysis on the potential economic and operational impacts on County departments, services, and long term liabilities if the proposed annexation is approved.  

We believe that when the Master Tax Sharing Agreement was approved in June 2024, the potential annexation plans presented by the City of Ukiah were different from what is being proposed today, and that the City of Ukiah is operating in bad faith. We request that the  County insist that the City of Ukiah abandon their annexation plans, and if they will not,  that the County rescind the Master Tax Sharing Agreement. We look to your leadership in protecting the vested interests of the rural residents and agricultural operations of  Mendocino County by opposing the City of Ukiah’s annexation plans. 

Estelle Clifton, President
Mendocino County Farm Bureau