County assessors press for clearer rules, funding to track short-term rentals and primary-residence claims

Multiple county assessors raised concerns that short-term-rental activity is creating ambiguity about a property’s primary‑residence status and complicating property-tax enforcement. Danelle Walker, Morgan County assessor, told the commission, “Maybe more specifically on short term rentals and getting it's a little vague...it would be helpful is just having a specific date or how many days that they can actually” claim a primary residence.

Assessors described scenarios in which owners occupy a small portion of a property while renting the remainder as short‑term rentals and still claim the primary-residence exemption. They urged clearer statutory or rule definitions, better tools to identify short‑term rentals across platforms, and stronger authority for assessors to verify domicile. Commission staff said the legislature provided one-time funding to evaluate vendors and that a statewide vendor selection was near completion, but staff and some commissioners noted ongoing funding and potentially a statutory tweak would be needed to allow use of sales‑tax administrative-fee funds or similar revenue for property‑tax enforcement.

One county reported spending $110,000 to identify roughly 500 parcels with a vendor, and assessors urged the commission to pursue a centralized, statewide approach to maximize value and reduce per‑county costs. The commission said it will continue coordinating with legislative affairs and evaluate whether additional authority or recurring funds are needed to support county enforcement.