Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Taxation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Town escalates after Airbnb routing lodging taxes to neighboring city
Summary
Town staff told trustees that Airbnb misapplied lodging-tax remittances using ZIP-code boundaries, triggering a legal escalation and a same-day meeting with Airbnb; staff requested written confirmation and an immediate jurisdiction correction.
Staff member briefed trustees that Airbnb recently told some short-term-rental hosts their lodging taxes would be remitted to the city of Broken Bow, not Hochatown, because Airbnb had used ZIP-code mapping rather than municipal GIS boundaries. "They told Coachtown properties that their lodging taxes were going to be remitted to the city of Broken Bow by January 1," the staff member said, adding that the town requested immediate jurisdiction correction and written confirmation.
When initial outreach drew no response over the holidays, legal counsel sent a follow-up and scheduled a meeting with Airbnb; staff said a representative (Liz) met Airbnb that same day and reported confidence in a positive resolution. Trustees also thanked town lobbyist Pat Fearon for elevating the issue to the lieutenant governor and connecting the town with Airbnb’s Washington lobbyist.
The board asked staff to freeze any remittances pending confirmation and to circulate the results of the meeting to trustees and the public. The town emphasized that lodging jurisdiction must be based on municipal boundary GIS layers, not ZIP codes, and that the town is seeking written assurance that remittances will be redirected and corrected.
