Assembly members presented a proposal Sept. 18 for a short‑term rental (STR) tax and related registration to generate revenue for housing and related infrastructure. The proposal would add a 5% tax applied only to short‑term rentals on top of the municipality’s existing 12% room tax; sponsors said revenues would be dedicated to housing or associated infrastructure programs if approved.

Sponsors and scope: Assembly Member Volleyn, one of the sponsors, said other resort and mountain communities levy STR‑specific taxes ranging from about 2.5% to 7.5% in addition to their base lodging taxes and that the proposal contemplates a 5% STR surcharge. Assembly Member Johnson and Assembly Member Baldwin Day said they were co-sponsors on complementary work to create an STR registration that would assign unique registration numbers to properties and require a short list of owner-provided information to the municipality.

Exemptions and implementation: sponsors discussed an owner‑occupied exemption for properties where the owner lives full‑time and rents a room or unit on the property, and they considered whether to include an exemption in the charter text or to give the assembly authority to create exemptions by ordinance. Volleyn said the charter language likely should give authority to craft exemptions rather than prescribing them in the charter.

Data and enforcement challenges: sponsors said the municipality currently lacks reliable property-level information from third‑party short‑term rental platforms (for example, Airbnb and VRBO), which complicates enforcement and revenue verification. They described an accompanying registration project intended to create unique identifiers for STR properties and improve municipal data on who is renting and where.

Revenue use and next steps: sponsors said the revenue would be used to support affordable housing initiatives, infrastructure improvements that enable housing creation, and potentially to replenish a municipal housing fund. They discussed restoring a previously lapsed $500,000 appropriation that had been intended for housing. The charter amendment would require voter approval; the item is scheduled for public hearing as part of the Sept. 23 agenda (item listed as new public hearings 14e). Sponsors said they would present any S‑versions or amendments by the public hearing date. No ordinance vote or ballot placement occurred Sept. 18.