Geary County GIS director flags growing short‑term rental enforcement challenge, outlines mapping and imaging upgrades

Troy Livingston, Geary County GIS director, told the commission on March 10 that his office is seeing an increase in short‑term rentals, event‑style uses of private property and other unpermitted commercial activity in rural areas, and that those uses are often hard to identify from county records.

"We have people building small houses specifically to turn them into Airbnbs," Livingston said, and noted that the county and city together may have "in the hundreds" of listings when transient rooms and single‑room rentals are counted. Livingston told commissioners his office and the appraiser’s office are investigating properties flagged by staff and members of the public and will send letters to owners explaining zoning and permitting requirements; repeat or uncooperative offenders will be referred to the county attorney for possible enforcement.

Transient guest tax and valuation: Livingston said the state requires collection of transient guest taxes but that county offices do not routinely receive detailed remittance data showing who paid what, complicating efforts to assess and uniformly tax short‑term rentals. He described a previous county effort to identify listings that stalled because contractors were unable to find a large enough share of properties; one county later dropped the work for uniformity reasons.

Zoning, event venues and RV sites: Livingston said the county is following up on reports of event centers and alleged commercial RV sites to determine whether those uses are lawful under local zoning and whether conditional‑use permits or other permits are required.

GIS products and contracts: Livingston also outlined upcoming procurement decisions that affect county mapping services. The county’s current contract for oblique imagery (Pictometry) expires at year end; options discussed include retaining current image resolution on a two‑year flight schedule or upgrading to higher resolution imagery. He said the current orthophoto resolution (4‑inch pixels) meets state requirements for appraisal measurements but that higher resolution (2–3 inch) is available at greater cost. Livingston said the vendor cloud service hosts oblique imagery the county can overlay with its GIS for appraiser and public use.

Esri licensing and budget impacts: Livingston warned commissioners that Esri, the county’s mapping software vendor, will change its licensing model in 2026 and increase per‑license costs; the county currently pays a smaller fee for a secondary license that Esri plans to eliminate, increasing future budgetary pressure for GIS licensing.

Building permits, septic systems and inspections: Livingston reported the county is on par with last year for first‑quarter building permits and inspection fees and cited recent staff training for septic‑system design. He said the sanitarian’s enforcement and attention to detail are producing better outcomes and protecting future buyers.

What the commission directed: Commissioners asked staff to continue identifying suspect short‑term rental listings, coordinate with the appraiser and county attorney on enforcement options, and bring recommended contract language and budget figures to the board before negotiating the next Pictometry and Esri service renewals.