Mendocino College Wants Voters to Pass a $98 Million Bond; Records Show the District Already Owes $204 Million
Proposed Measure A would roughly double the district’s existing debt, which grew far beyond a 2006 voter authorization and won’t be paid off until 2052. Property owners are on the hook.
Clarifications: This story is available to be republished under the Creative Commons 4.0 license. (CC BY 4.0) by an media organization operating in Mendocino County.
We added a statement from Mr. Karas that the district is not operating in the red. (May 29, 2026)
Mendocino-Lake Community College District is asking voters to approve a $98 million general obligation bond to renovate and expand its campuses across two counties. What the district is not telling voters is that it already owes $203.9 million on bonds from a measure passed nearly two decades ago — and that local property owners are responsible for every dollar.
Measure A, which will appear on the June 2 ballot, would fund new and renovated facilities at the district’s main campus in Ukiah and centers in Willits, Fort Bragg, and Lakeport, as well as the Coastal Field Station, just north of Point Arena. If approved, the measure would roughly double the district’s total outstanding bond obligations.
The district’s existing debt stems from Measure W, a $67.5 million general obligation bond that voters in Mendocino and Lake counties approved in November 2006 with 62.4% of the vote. Nineteen years later, records show the district has issued 90 individual bonds across seven separate sales — and the final payment will not be made until 2052, nearly a half-century after voters went to the polls.
A Debt That Grew
Mendocino College issued its first bonds under Measure W in March 2007. It issued a second and final authorized series in August 2011. Then it refinanced — twice. A September 2015 refunding restructured $48.6 million in outstanding bonds. A March 2022 refunding restructured an additional $62 million.
Each refinancing extended the district’s obligations further into the future.
The district’s audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025 — prepared by San Diego-based certified public accounting firm CWDL and issued December 8, 2025 — show the district carries $99.4 million in bond liabilities on its books. When all future principal, interest, and accreted growth on those bonds is counted through their final maturity, the total obligation reaches $203.9 million, according to the statements and MendoLocal.News research.
That figure is nearly three times the $67.5 million voters authorized in 2006.
The Bonds Voters Don’t Know About
The most consequential piece of the district’s debt is largely invisible to the public.
Buried in the district’s bond history is a class of securities called Capital Appreciation Bonds, or CABs. Unlike conventional bonds that pay interest every six months, CABs pay nothing until maturity. The debt simply grows — year after year, silently — until a lump-sum payment comes due.
The district issued CABs as part of both its 2011 bond series and its 2022 refinancing.
The largest single bond in the district’s portfolio is a 2022 CAB that matures in 2050. Records filed with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board show the district received approximately $17.8 million when it sold that bond. Taxpayers will owe $87.26 million when it comes due — a ratio of nearly five to one.
More striking: a separate set of CABs issued in the district’s 2011 bond series were never retired in the 2022 refinancing. Because CABs typically cannot be called before maturity, those bonds are still accreting on the district’s books. As of June 30, 2025, the remaining 2011 series carries $23.5 million in carrying value, with future obligations totaling $62.4 million extending through 2052 — the last payment date for any Mendocino College bond.
The district’s own audited statements describe annual CAB accretion — the year-over-year growth of unpaid interest — as interest expense. That figure totaled $4.6 million in fiscal year 2025 alone.
Taxpayers Are Already Paying
General obligation bonds are backed by local property taxes, not tuition or state funds. Every dollar the district borrows under Measure W must be repaid by property owners in Mendocino and Lake counties.
In fiscal year 2025, the district collected $4.1 million in local property tax revenue specifically designated for bond capital repayment, according to its audited financial statements. That levy will continue each year — the the amount can vary — until the final bond matures in 2052.
Measure A, if approved, would authorize the district to levy additional property taxes to service the new debt — on top of the existing levy. Because taxes are levied according to assessed value — which has little or no relationship to a property owner’s ability to pay — residents who bought property in the last six years after the pandemic run-up in prices are required to contribute significantly more than their neighbors — on top of their higher baseline taxes.
The district’s audited financial statements also show it ended fiscal year 2025 with a negative net position of $20.8 million, meaning its total liabilities exceed its total assets by that amount. In 2024, the district ended the fiscal with a negative net position of $20.9 million
The District’s Response
Mendocino-Lake Community College District officials responded to a request for comment on the district’s existing bond obligations with a link to the most recent audited financial statements. The district did not comment on the relationship between that debt and Measure A.
Mr. Karas took issue with a statement that the district has been operating in the red for the last two years, as reflected in its negative net position. “We have a balanced budget and reserves meeting State guidance,” he said in an email.
The district’s bond oversight committee, a citizen panel required by California law, reviews expenditures under Measure W. The committee’s most recent public report is dated 2015. It did not contain any information about continuing taxpayer indebtedness.
California law enacted in 2013 restricted school districts from issuing new CABs after concerns about the instruments. Whether Measure A bonds could be structured as CABs, and under what restrictions, was not addressed in the district’s public ballot materials.
A Pattern Statewide
Mendocino College’s bond history is not unique in California. Community college districts statewide have used CABs to lower near-term debt service costs while pushing large obligations decades into the future — a practice that drew scrutiny from state legislators and the California State Auditor beginning in the early 2010s.
What distinguishes Mendocino College’s situation is that its oldest CABs — issued in 2011 and still outstanding — survived a 2022 refinancing that was designed in part to reduce the district’s long-term costs. Because CABs cannot be called early, those bonds will continue growing for nearly three more decades regardless of what voters decide on Measure A.
Measure W was approved in 2006 for $67.5 million. Nearly two decades of borrowing, refinancing and compounding interest later, the total bill has grown to $203.9 million. Local property owners are currently paying $4.1 million per year toward that debt and will be doing so until 2052.
Measure A would start the clock again.
Read our previous stories:
A New Vision for Mendocino College Gets Lost in the Fine Print (May 28, 2026)
Measure A Fliers Suggest Bond Would Fund Fire Academy Already Paid for by the State (May 27, 2026)
Thank you Elise for your sober and thorough look at Mendocino College's insatiable appetite for our hard earned money.
They seem to have only learned to add . . . never subtract.
WOW
A total loose of words.
My mind can’t comprehend the total impact of this, so early in the morning!