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Committee reviews draft excise tax on peer-to-peer vehicle rentals; members ask for map, enforcement and coverage clarifications
Summary
Staff presented an ordinance to levy an excise tax on peer-to-peer vehicle rentals (marketplace-facilitator model) inside an adjusted downtown cruise-ship zone; members pressed staff on geofencing, the private-property exemption, which operators would be covered, and the paucity of data. The committee requested amendments, map adjustments and additional analysis.
Deputy Manager Barr introduced a draft ordinance amending Title 69 to add an excise tax on peer‑to‑peer vehicle rentals in a defined downtown cruise-ship zone, noting the proposal was modeled on other municipal excise taxes and would be collected by marketplace facilitators (he cited Turo as the primary example). Staff said the zone would be roughly within a half‑mile of cruise docks (with map adjustments after committee feedback) and that the tax could both offset downtown parking and maintenance costs and potentially shift some rental activity to locations outside the zone.
Barr described a committee-requested exemption added to the ordinance: peer‑to‑peer rentals that both originate and end on private property within the map would be exempt. He said administration would rely on marketplace facilitators to geofence the zone and report transactions; staff acknowledged they are aware of anecdotal commercial activity that does not use marketplace apps but said their data are sparse and this ordinance would produce better information if adopted.
Assembly members asked whether traditional car-rental companies and local private rental operators (for example, companies that rent Jeeps) would be captured; staff said the proposed language applies to marketplace facilitators and would not reach traditional firms unless the ordinance is modified. Members proposed returning with amendments to clarify remittance language (removing or revising 'renter' in remittance sections), to explore taxing private rental companies as well, and to adjust the map to include remaining areas of the Rock Dump and the IGA parking lot.
The assembly voted to bring back the map amendment: adding the remainder of the Rock Dump and the IGA parking lot carried 6–3. Staff will return with refined ordinance language, additional map options, legal review of enforcement and administration, and any recommended language changes.
