Since 62% of the Town of Mammoth budget comes from Transient Occupancy Tax, the Mono Grand Jury thought it worthy to check out how the Town collects those taxes and if there are delinquencies. TOT is charged on nightly motel or condo rentals.

Through interviews with Finance Director Brad Koehn, the Jury learned that Mammoth has a good collection rate but no real ability to go after what might amount to a small minority who fail to pay taxes for renting their properties.

The recently released Mono Grand Jury report describes the process town government uses to notify property owners of their obligations – through letters and cards. Single family home owners can not legally rent their homes on a nightly basis. Condo owners can but must pay TOT. Koehn told jurors these owners were notified and told they were required to pay if they didn't already know.

The Jury reports says that the Town Finance Director believed "that the majority of the property owners were in compliance."

The report explained that Mammoth hires one staff member to review internet websites to research those renting units to see if they're paying TOT. The report concluded that if there were evidence that an individual or company were operating illegally, "the job of investigating would fall to the Town Compliance Officer." The report says that at the time of their interview, the position of Town Compliance Officer was vacant and was not posted as a position to replace.