City Council approves $20,000 annual deal to share sex offender registration office with County Sheriff

Fresno City Council voted July 17 to authorize Police Chief Mindy Casto to sign a three-year license agreement with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office to continue sharing office space for convicted sex offender registration programs. The city will pay up to $20,000 per year.

The shared office will move from the current location at 110 M Street to the South Annex Jail at 2280 Fresno Street. The arrangement has been in place since 2010.

The agreement runs from July 1, 2025, with an initial three-year term and the option for two additional one-year extensions. Both agencies register and monitor convicted individuals under California Penal Code Section 290.

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The Breakdown

• The city pays the county up to $20,000 annually to share office space for sex offender registration
• The Police Department and Sheriff’s Office have shared this function since 2010
• The new location is the South Annex Jail at 2280 Fresno Street, replacing the previous site at 110 M Street
• The deal runs three years starting July 1, 2025, with options to extend two more years

What This Means for You

The co-location arrangement means one facility handles registration for both city and county jurisdictions. Voters who want to know how the city spends public money on law enforcement operations can track this agreement as part of the Police Department’s budget.

What to Watch

The staff report says the previous agreement expired June 30, 2025, and the new one starts July 1, 2025. That means there’s no gap, but also no stated reason for the location change from 110 M Street to the jail annex. Why the move? What happened to the previous facility?

$20,000 per year for shared office space is what the city pays the county, but the material gives no breakdown of square footage, utilities, or what services that covers beyond “shared use of facility.” What’s included in that figure, and what’s the county’s cost to provide it? The budget line appears in the staff report with no justification for the amount.

The agreement gives the Police Chief authority to sign without Council reviewing the actual terms each time. That’s standard for operational contracts, but it also means voters won’t see the details unless they ask for them. Who monitors whether the $20,000 annual cap is accurate, and what happens if costs exceed it?