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Flagler County tax collector outlines short‑term rental reporting, collections and enforcement
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Summary
Tax Collector Shelly Edmonson told the TDC the county collected just over $4.4 million in TDT in fiscal 24–25, is tracking 1,613 tax accounts, and is using web‑scraping and audits to identify noncompliant short‑term rentals, while stressing that online platforms currently do not remit tourist tax directly to the county.
Shelly Edmonson, Flagler County Tax Collector, briefed the Tourist Development Council on the office’s approach to collecting the tourist development tax (TDT) and monitoring short‑term rentals.
Edmonson said the office reported just over $4.4 million in TDT revenue for the 2024–25 fiscal year and that the office maintains approximately 1,613 TDT accounts as of a January data pull. She explained the difference between accounts and online listings: a single property may be advertised multiple times across platforms.
The tax collector’s office recently switched web‑scraping vendors and is using algorithmic scraping to identify active short‑term rental listings; Edmonson said the vendor identified roughly 1,036 active short‑term rental ads in December and that Airbnb and VRBO inventory counts were about 1,006 and 526 properties respectively (vendor counts of properties rather than validated accounts). Edmonson said the county does not currently have an agreement with online platforms to collect tourist tax on the county’s behalf and noted that some jurisdictions have such agreements while others do not.
Edmonson reiterated enforcement and compliance tools available to the county: audits, certified letters, liens and garnishments, charter cancellations and other remedies for those who fail to pay TDT. She explained that the board asked the tax collector’s office in 2018 to take local collection responsibility from the Department of Revenue; that change gave the county greater visibility into where funds originate and the ability to audit returns rather than receiving an undetailed lump check.
Board members asked about audit and sampling methods and whether the platform’s data can show gaps. Edmonson and staff said the platform provides sample sizes and background data to support audits but that not every listing or transaction will be visible; claims about exact capture rates require further analysis and normalization.
What happens next: the tax collector’s office will continue onboarding the new scraper, provide enforcement support as appropriate, and work with the county and tourism staff to improve reporting and compliance.
