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Ways & Means approves ATAX recommendations and forwards Visit Travelers Rest funding request; council aims to bring short‑term rentals into licensing
Summary
Ways & Means sent ATAX grant recommendations (~$90,000) and a proposed $22,160 Visit Travelers Rest marketing budget to full council, while city staff outlined plans to use AirDNA to identify short‑term rentals and hire a code-enforcement officer to increase licensing and accommodations‑tax compliance.
The Ways & Means Committee voted to forward several accommodations-tax (ATAX) committee grant recommendations — roughly $90,000 in awards — to full council, and approved sending the Visit Travelers Rest request to use 30% of state ATAX funds for tourism promotion with a proposed $22,160 budget.
Wendy Linham, representing Visit Travelers Rest, briefed council on tourism metrics and goals: current hotel occupancy near 60%, average daily rate about $87.60, and visitor-driven sales-tax contributions estimated at $31 million. Linham proposed targeted marketing including an AirDNA subscription ($2,500/year) to identify short‑term rental hosts and a 3–5 minute promotional video to increase lodging occupancy to 75–80% over 3–5 years.
Council members and staff noted rapid growth in short‑term rentals: staff cited an AirDNA estimate of 40–60 STR listings within city limits but said only 15 were licensed. Council discussed both incentive-based promotion for licensed hosts and a forthcoming part‑time code-enforcement hire to ensure safety, licensing and accommodations‑tax compliance.
The committee’s ATAX recommendations were advanced to full council; Visit Travelers Rest’s budget was similarly sent forward for final action.
