ANNA MARIA – The vacation rental issue has sprouted new branches, but new state legislation may be necessary next session to keep them trimmed, according to local officials.
Online vacation rentals, such as Vacation Rentals By Owner (VRBO), airbnb and HomeAway, are depriving the community of resort tax funds, Anna Maria Mayor SueLynn told the Barrier Island Elected Officials last week.
Other tax evaders are residents who rent out rooms in their homes to tourists, and group homes for recovering alcoholics, drug addicts and gamblers, sometimes called “sober” homes, she said.
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SueLynn said there are at least two airbnb rentals in Anna Maria, and between five and seven in Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach; other estimates show at least 50 rentals are advertised on airbnb Islandwide.
They are not easy to identify, even for the experts, said Sue Sinquefield, tax analyst and auditor for the Manatee County Tax Collector’s office, where the staff combs websites for vacation rentals in Manatee County that may be evading the five percent resort tax.
“There has been a lot of litigation in the state” about online vacation rentals, but “judges feel there isn’t enough teeth in the statutes, which were written before reserving rooms online took place,” she said.
“Usually what happens is the judges rule in favor of the online transaction,” she said, adding that courts say that legislation is needed before they can enforce the resort tax against online rental companies.
For that reason, the tax collector’s office has had conversations with VRBO, but has not started a campaign to collect yet, Sinquefield said, adding that the staff has not yet registered on airbnb.com to investigate.
Other revenue evaders – sober homes – are not licensed or regulated, Holmes Beach Commission Jean Peelen said, adding that there is a home for recovering gamblers on the Island.
“Investors buy run-down homes, fix them and run them as boardinghouses” with no staff, SueLynn said.
“It’s déjà vu,” said Anna Maria Commissioner Dale Woodland, suggesting that if the cities don’t regulate sober homes now, the Legislature may take away their ability to do so, as happened with vacation rental regulation in 2011.
Commissioners Dale Woodland and Chuck Webb disagreed on whether group homes are allowed in Anna Maria, with Webb stating they are not allowed.
Code enforcement is looking into whether group homes in Holmes Beach have business tax receipts, Peelen said.
Officials discussed the difficulty of identifying when a residence has changed into a group home or a vacation rental.
“We have 70 percent more rentals than we knew existed,” Longboat Key Vice Mayor Jack Duncan said, adding that the city only finds out about it when someone complains about noise, trash or parking.
With no relief in sight from the 2011 state vacation rental law that prohibits municipal regulation of rentals, Peelen urged officials to regulate what they can – health and safety violations, which were allowed under an amendment to the law last year.
“I don’t want us to throw away the opportunity,” she said.
Resort tax allocation
Peelen said she will ask state Legislators this month to allow the county to return one fifth of the five percent resort tax to the three Island cities, which consistently produce more than half the county’s tax receipts each year.
At least one legislator is considering the proposal, SueLynn said.
County commissioner Carol Whitmore mentioned that a bill that that would have allowed northwest Florida counties to use tourist tax funds to pay lifeguard salaries was voted down last year.
Parking
Holmes Beach Mayor Carmel Monti suggested that cities are “sitting on potential revenue” by not charging for parking, adding, “I don’t think you’re going to lose any tourists, but we’ll have a million dollars.”
“This won’t ease congestion,” Peelen said.
The issue could be a subject of the upcoming Urban Land Institute study, he suggested.
ULI study
SueLynn told the BIEO that the ULI study may be rescheduled from February to April or May, prompting Peelen to say, “Too bad; we wanted it to be in season so they could see what it looks like.”
The three Island cities had asked for the ULI study, which was recently funded by the Manatee County Commission with beach concessions funds.
At a recent Council of Governments meeting, SueLynn said she hopes the ULI study will show people “how huge the problem is,” referring to oversized vacation rentals and the resulting congestion.
“We don’t have a problem with people coming but you cannot push the residents out. They don’t realize how ticked off people are,” she told the council. “If it continues as it’s going, this Island will be a hotel destination and there won’t be a community. You’re going to lose your churches and schools and citizens who work in the community.”
Anna Maria commissioners are scheduled to discuss the issue on Thursday, Oct. 23 at its regular board meeting, she said.
To anonymously report a rental owner who may not be paying the resort tax, call 941-741-4809 or visit www.taxcollector.com.
