Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Short Term Rentals topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Washington County committee weighs whether to share short-term rental booking data as platforms remit occupancy taxes
Summary
County staff said a newly launched short-term rental registry enables platforms to remit occupancy tax, but platforms are sending checks without passenger/stay data; members debated confidentiality, assessor access, and an estimated $5,000 vendor module that could deliver platform data.
County staff told the Washington County Economic Development Committee that the county has launched a short-term rental (STR) registry using software from DeCard and is charging a $250 registration fee every two years to cover software and administration costs. The registry assigns registration numbers that online booking platforms are meant to require before accepting reservations, enabling the platforms to collect sales and occupancy taxes.
"We purchased software from DeCard to create a registry of the short-term rental properties," the staff member said, adding that the registry had helped the county begin collecting occupancy tax. The staff member also said the county believes roughly 400 properties are operating as STRs across the county and that just over 100 have registered so far.
Staff described a split in how online platforms are complying with a state law enacted last year. "Airbnb just sends us a check. We don't get any data. We just deposit the check. We have no way of verifying what comprised the makeup of that check," the staff member said. The staff member said Vrbo/Expedia/HomeAway have sent occupancy-tax checks totaling about $26,000 last year through their related platforms but have resisted providing the accompanying booking data (names, addresses, dates of stay, price and taxes) without a subpoena.
The staff member outlined a DeCard add-on estimated at about $5,000 that would allow the vendor to remit occupancy tax directly along with the booking data the county expects under state law. The staff member recommended holding off on purchasing the module until the county finishes rolling out the registry and until legal questions about data obligations are clearer.
Several committee members pressed for clarity about which data are public and which are confidential. "That scares the hell out of me," Laura said when the legal limits on sharing tax-related data were discussed, adding that municipal officials should attest they will keep the data confidential. Members discussed technical restrictions such as password-protected access and requiring an attestation each time the county transmits confidential booking data to a town or enforcement agency.
Members distinguished the public registry (name and address of registered STR operators) from platform-supplied booking records. The staff member said the law appears to require county recipients of platform data to share such data with towns within 60 days of receipt but also to keep that data from being made publicly available. Several members suggested the county can and should provide the public registry to towns to assist enforcement, while handling platform-provided booking data under stricter confidentiality controls.
The committee agreed to defer a final decision on purchasing the vendor add-on and on broad distribution of confidential booking data until the registry rollout continues and the county receives more platform remittances. The staff member said the county will continue voluntary collection arrangements with Airbnb and will receive quarterly checks from Expedia Group platforms while pursuing clarity on data delivery.
Next steps: staff will continue registry enrollment, monitor incoming platform remittances for accompanying data, and return to the committee with recommendations about whether to purchase the DeCard add-on or to implement a secure attestation process for towns requesting confidential booking data.
