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Council asks staff to reconcile rental‑license totals and consider audits after large reported revenue differences
Summary
Council members flagged a large apparent discrepancy between short‑term rental license reported revenue (~$140–145M) and municipal accommodations tax receipts (~$2.1M), and asked staff to compare year‑over‑year license data and explore audit options (including Charleston County or private auditors).
Council members asked staff to reconcile short‑term rental licensing totals with reported accommodations tax receipts after packet figures suggested a large gap between the revenue bases. During the admin‑committee discussion staff said the short‑term rental licensing schedule reports roughly $140–145 million in revenue, while municipal accommodations tax receipts (1%) were about $2.1 million; a member noted the math implied a reporting base that did not reconcile with known hotel room revenue and suggested a missing roughly $70 million that needed explanation.
Staff told the committee they will look at year‑to‑year license lists, identify outliers (construction projects and high‑revenue license holders can skew totals), and explore audit approaches: Charleston County has previously performed similar reviews and would typically charge a portion of recovered revenues as a fee; other auditors may charge flat fees. The admin committee recommended staff identify auditing firms and scope the review before council pursues formal audit action.
Next steps: staff will produce a reconciled year‑over‑year license summary that breaks revenue by license type, isolate high‑value outliers, and provide options for auditing or targeted revenue assurance work to the admin committee for scope and cost evaluation.
