Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Hotel Occupancy Tax topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council holds hotel-occupancy tax measure as staff and members seek clarity on short-term rentals
Summary
Mount Vernon officials told the council they plan to extend a proposed hotel-occupancy tax to short-term rentals and are building permit and reporting systems; the council held the Home Rule measure to clarify wording and enforcement.
City officials told the Mount Vernon City Council on Jan. 22 that the city does not currently collect a hotel-occupancy tax and is preparing Home Rule legislation to seek state authorization if the council wishes to proceed.
Director Mack (city official) said the proposed measure would allow the city to collect a hotel-occupancy tax should new hotels open in Mount Vernon and would be written to include short-term rentals commonly advertised on platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO and HomeAway.
“We want to ensure that this hotel occupancy tax is also extended to those short-term rentals,” Director Mack said, adding that the city’s short-term rental directory — a registration program enacted by the council in summer 2024 — will be housed in the Department of Buildings and coordinated with the assessor and comptroller.
Director Mack said the city’s current estimate is that about 100 short-term rental listings are active at any given time, though listings are seasonal and fluctuate. The proposed enforcement model would require short-term-rental operators to obtain a permit from the Department of Buildings; the permit number would be displayed on the listing and platforms could generate a quarterly report of days rented. That report would be shared with the Department of Buildings, the comptroller’s office and the assessor for reconciliation and collection.
Council members and staff discussed an option Director Mack said he is exploring with platform providers: automatic collection and remittance of occupancy taxes by the platform. Councilman Plautique said he had seen Airbnb offer automatic remittance programs to other municipalities and recommended the city require platforms that can remit automatically to do so.
Because the Home Rule resolution presented to state legislators did not explicitly spell out short-term rentals, council members held the measure on the floor so staff and counsel can revise the language to include a clear definition and confirm the state approval process.
