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Tompkins County adopts Local Law C to modify hotel room occupancy rules, add short‑term rental registration
Summary
The legislature adopted Local Law C of 2025 to clarify hotel room occupancy tax rules, add a $125 per‑unit two‑year short‑term rental registration, and create enforcement pathways tied to complaints and local code enforcement.
Tompkins County legislators voted unanimously Sept. 2 to adopt Local Law C of 2025, a change to the county's hotel room occupancy tax and short‑term rental (STR) rules.
The law clarifies taxable short‑term rental activity, adds a registration requirement and establishes enforcement steps. Greg Mezey moved adoption of the local law and Veronica Pillar seconded; the vote was unanimous.
Why it matters: the law pairs a registration and modest fee structure with mechanisms for addressing complaints about rental units. County planning staff and the deputy county attorney worked on the drafting, and a planning‑department representative said the registration fee is $125 per unit for a two‑year registration.
At the public hearing earlier in the meeting, Amanda Kirchgesner asked about safety and enforcement: "who enforces the safety standards and is that a yet another unfunded mandate that's falling down to the local?" She raised whether local code or enforcement offices would need to expand oversight. Planning staff and legislative sponsors said operators self‑identify and attest to compliance and that enforcement would follow established complaint and code‑enforcement processes.
The law also responds to a March statewide change in how short‑term rentals are taxed: county staff noted sales tax on short‑term rentals is now being collected and that short‑term rental sales tax revenue was included in the administration's revenue forecast informing the budget presentation.
Ending: The local law establishes a registration system and clarifies taxable activity; complaints about safety or code violations will be handled through existing county code enforcement channels as spelled out in the law and implementing regulations.
