Madera County Mello-Roos Districts

Mello-Roos is a special tax authorized by California's Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982 (Gov. Code §53311). A Community Facilities District (CFD) — usually a city, school district, or the county — levies it on parcels inside the district to repay bonds for infrastructure or services, billed on top of the 1% Proposition 13 rate as a flat "direct assessment," not based on your home's value. Madera County has 5 reporting CFDs with about $54 million in bond debt outstanding (CDIAC, reporting year 2024-25).

Your Mello-Roos tax appears as a flat line item in the "direct assessments" or "special assessments" section of your Madera County tax bill, usually naming the CFD. Search that name (or the district's purpose) in the list below to identify it. Mello-Roos amounts are set per parcel under each district's Rate and Method of Apportionment, so the exact figure for your parcel is on your bill or from the district.

It varies widely by district and parcel — there is no single county rate. Across all 5 Madera County CFDs, about $3.4 million in special taxes is levied each year. A typical single-family Mello-Roos charge runs roughly $1,500–$5,000 a year, but depends entirely on the CFD and its Rate and Method. Check the district in the table and your own tax bill.

Usually yes. A CFD's special tax is tied to its bonds, so it typically ends when the bonds are repaid — often 20 to 40 years after issuance. The "Final year" column shows each district's latest reported bond maturity. Some CFDs that fund ongoing services rather than bonds can continue indefinitely; check the district's Rate and Method.

An unpaid Mello-Roos special tax is a lien and can trigger an accelerated judicial foreclosure — faster than ordinary property-tax delinquency — because bondholders must be paid. In reporting year 2024-25, Madera County CFDs reported about 30 delinquent parcels, with roughly 0.5% of the annual special tax left unpaid. Districts with a high unpaid share are flagged in the table.