SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif.- The City of South Lake Tahoe has been working to clean up some parcels that were outside the city limits, but received city services due to their location. The annexation area includes properties along Winnemucca Avenue and Lodi Avenue on each side of the Upper Truckee River meadow, and parcels with no homes on them along Barbara Avenue. There are 80 parcels on 79 acres involved in the annexation – 13 of the parcels are privately owned, the remaining 66 are owned by public agencies.
El Dorado Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) approved the annexation on March 26, 2025, and the boundary change became official on May 15.
The city has been pursuing the annexation since 2023 to ensure that the city receives tax revenue to support city services already being provided to the area, such as snow removal and road maintenance. The annexation area was originally established when the City was incorporated in 1965.
Annexation is a process under California law (the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000) for incorporated cities to add land to the area within their jurisdictional boundaries. The purpose of this law is “to encourage the orderly growth and development which are essential to the social, fiscal, and economic well-being of the state.” The city negotiated a tax sharing agreement that provides a transition of tax revenue from the county to the city to fund services provided by the City.
“We are excited to complete this annexation, which allows the city to receive revenue for the services we provide to those properties. It will also allow residents in those areas to vote on city issues and for city councilmembers that represent them,” said Mayor Tamara Wallace.
The annexation area will also be detached from the Lake Valley Fire District and fall within the service area of the city’s Fire Department.
Another annexation the City has been working on is the Heavenly Mountain Ski Resort. The city is still negotiating with El Dorado County on property tax sharing terms, but they are not getting far, and those negotiations have been ineffective so far. The City has not received the necessary numbers from El Dorado County Auditor-Controller Joe Harn. Heavenly also hasn’t come to the table for negotiations.
To date, city staff has not received direction from the city council to stop negotiations. Mayor Wallace was heard on a “hot mic” during a conversation at a recent LAFCO meeting that the annexation of Heavenly was off the table, but that is not a city council direction, and she said she was expressing her own opinion.
