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Commission questions ‘100% value’ language in short-term rental draft, sends revision for attorney review
Summary
Lewiston commissioners flagged unclear language in Section 8(b) of a draft short-term rental ordinance — the phrase that non-owner occupied STRs are "taxed at 100% value" — and assigned Jared to reword the provision and Abel to forward the revision to the city attorney for ordinance-language review.
Chair opened discussion on a draft short-term rental ordinance and asked commissioners to review Section 8, which governs licensing and taxes. A commissioner asked, "What is 'taxed at a 100% value' mean?" and several members said the phrase was unclear.
Commissioners agreed both owner-occupied and non-owner occupied short-term rentals should require a business license; they debated whether to reference lodging or transient room taxes in the code, noting those taxes are administered at other levels of government. Chair and commissioners directed that unclear "100% value" language be struck or reworded.
Jared agreed to reword the section and return a clean draft; Abel will forward the revised draft to the city attorney to add required ordinance language. Commissioners said they would hold a public meeting before taking formal action and expected attorney review and possible additional edits to return at next month’s meeting.
No formal vote or ordinance adoption occurred; commissioners treated the session as a drafting and direction step. The group emphasized the city should leave tax-collection specifics (for example, lodging or transient room taxes) to the appropriate taxing authority unless the commission explicitly chooses otherwise.
