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County staff present short‑term rental trends; state sales‑tax changes raise implementation questions
Summary
Tompkins County staff presented 2023–24 short‑term rental data showing roughly 2,600 active listings and average daily rates between $148 and $267; staff said a state law signed Feb. 28 requires sales tax collection but implementation details and registration remain unresolved.
Nick, Tompkins County tourism program director, presented two years of short‑term rental data (Airbnb and Vrbo) to the Housing & Economic Development Committee on March 5, noting seasonal and geographic differences in supply, occupancy and rates.
"We have between roughly 2,600 active short‑term rentals at any given month," Nick said, adding that occupancy in that segment has been roughly 20% on average and average daily rates in the dataset ranged about $148 to $267 over the past two years. He said supply declined beginning April 2024 in the county.
The packet included breakdowns by municipality (Ithaca, Trumansburg, Lansing), unit size and month; county staff noted that lakefront and larger full‑house listings tend to command higher nightly rates than city one‑ or two‑bedroom units.
Committee members asked about a newly signed state law. Nick said the governor signed a short‑term rental bill on Feb. 28 and that state sales‑tax collection is expected under that law, but he and other county staff emphasized implementation details — including whether platforms or individual hosts will be treated as the taxpayer, how registration will be handled and how funds will flow to the county — remain unresolved. "There's a question on who is the vendor — is it the platform or is it the host," a county staffer observed.
Staff said the county is discussing registration and collection logistics with Finance and ITS and that the state implementation will determine many details. Nick noted occupancy tax remittance timelines in state law create a later effective schedule for that local charge: occupancy tax remittance does not take effect until Nov. 28, 2025, giving the county time to set up registration systems.
The presentation was informational; committee members directed staff to continue planning for registration, enforcement and revenue flow but took no formal vote.
