Staff directed to work on report with details about anticipated costs and potential facets of program
This week, the Sarasota County commissioners took their first step toward implementing a registration program for all owners of short-term rental properties in the unincorporated areas of the county.
They unanimously directed staff to prepare a report that will serve as the basis for a future discussion of the details of the process, to ensure that they have all the information they need to approve the establishment of the program before conducting a public hearing on the initiative. County Administrator Jonathan Lewis had recommended that discussion in advance of the public hearing.
Commissioner Mark Smith made the motion, and Commissioner Teresa Mast seconded it.
Matt Osterhoudt, director of the county’s Planning and Development Services Department, noted that — based on the April 7 discussion — staff will work with the Sarasota County offices of Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller Karen Rushing, Tax Collector Mike Moran, and Property Appraiser Bill Furst in compiling the report for the board.
On April 7 Commissioner Smith told Osterhoudt, “It’s obviously imperative that your department … work with the clerk of the court and with the … tax collector, because we’re talking about entities that can collect between [$5,000] and $10,000 a week.”
Commissioner Mast requested, as well, that Osterhoudt coordinate with those constitutional officers to make certain that one or more members of the staff of each be present for the future discussion, so those individuals can answer questions that county government staff might not be able to field.
Staff also will include in the report details about the effectiveness of the short-term rentals registration program in the City of Sarasota, the various types of software available to manage such a program, and the anticipated number of additional staffers.
Osterhoudt said it is his understanding that the City of Sarasota has separate staff members from its Code Enforcement team who manage the registration process. In the county, the Code Enforcement officers are responsible for dealing with illegal short-term rentals, he noted.
Several board members stressed the need for the program to be “net-neutral,” as Commissioner Tom Knight put it.
Chair Ron Cutsinger told Osterhoudt, “I’m always very hesitant to staff a new level of government bureaucracy. … I would absolutely agree with Commissioner Knight,” Cutsinger continued, that the program “has to pay for itself.”
He added, “In all areas of government,” fees cover costs.
Commissioner Joe Neunder also stressed his desire for the registration funds to pay for the county’s program expenses.
Following a presentation that Osterhoudt made to them the morning of April 7, as they met in Venice, Commissioner Smith was the first to voice support for a county registration system.
“Living and work on Siesta Key for over 30-some odd years, and talking to the folks out there about the short-term rental issue,” Smith said, “I believe strongly that we do need a registration program.”
“I support moving this forward for sure,” Commissioner Neunder added, “because I know from the half of [Siesta Key] that I represent, there are residents there that have had conversations with me about [a registration program].”
Neunder’s Siesta constituents in his District 4 territory are those who live on the southern portion of the island.
Neunder also asked Osterhoudt to include details in the report about anticipated fines.
“My hope,” Commissioner Smith said, “is that, perhaps, with the registration fees and subsequent penalties — I’m sure [Code Enforcement staff is going] to be out there, especially initially — that that would help offset the cost of additional staff members.”
Further, Cutsinger expressed a desire for the program to require inspections of the rental properties, to make certain visitors will be safe staying in the dwelling units they rent. Cutsinger noted, for examples, the need for fencing around pools and ready access to fire extinguishers.
“We’re talking about nine to 12 months” to establish the program, after it formally has been approved, Osterhoudt told the commissioners. He based that calculation, he noted, on the work that staff will have to pursue, including a communications plan to ensure that county residents are aware of the registration process.
‘No effective way’ to audit Tourist Development Tax payments
At one point on April 7, Rushing, clerk of the Circuit Court and county comptroller, explained that her staff has “no effective way to audit whether you’re getting your tourist tax monies.”
She was referring to the 6% county tax charged on rentals of accommodations for six months or less time. That is called the Tourist Development Tax, or “bed tax.”
The uses of the resulting revenue are detailed in the county ordinance governing the imposition of the tax.
Rushing elaborated, “I can’t audit this stuff because there’s no numbers to go back to.” She and her staff, she continued, have no way of knowing how many short-term rental units exist in the unincorporated areas of the county. “To be effective and to be in compliance,” she said, “we really have to have the registration.”
Rushing also explained, “You are owing the tax at the time you reserve [a rental property],” indicating that that is a fact many visitors do not understand. “That tax starts ticking from there,” she added.
Chair Cutsinger noted that he, too, is concerned about the Tourist Development Tax collections: “I wonder how much of this [money] is going unreported. It could be very significant.”
He added, “For that alone, the registration … makes sense …”
“We just need to work together,” Rushing told Cutsinger. “Matt [Osterhoudt] and I have been talking about this. I’m happy to go look at [the City of Sarasota registration program],” to get an understanding of “how that’s been.”
Years of neighborhood complaints
Early on during his April 7 presentation to the commissioners, Osterhoudt pointed out that the issue of illegal short-term rentals — also known as vacation rentals, he said — “has been a topic of concern and interest to the board for many years.”
He showed them a slide listing various past commission actions related to the issue, to underscore his statement. Among those was approval of a change to the County Code that provided for higher penalties in specific circumstances.
Showing them another slide with details of the rental regulations, Osterhoudt noted, “The real interesting point, of course, here” is the very first sentence: “Dwelling units may be rented as a whole and for periods of greater than 30 days provided that a dwelling unit shall not be rented more than once every 30 days.”
That is in Section 124-131 of the county’s Unified Development Code (UDC), which contains all of the land-use and zoning regulations.
He did add that parcels zoned for Residential Multi-Family (RMF) housing allow for shorter rental periods.
Moreover, Osterhoudt emphasized, the county’s short-term rental regulations can remain in effect as they are as long as they are not modified, because they were implemented before June 1, 2011. That is the date when the state assumed all control of such rentals. If the commissioners approved even a minor modification to the county provisions for short-term rentals, Osterhoudt said, the state law would prevail.
“There is no time limit in the state whatsoever [for rentals],” he pointed out. He reiterated that fact: “Either keep [the County Code] the same, or you can dump [the county’s short-term rental regulations].”
However, he explained, implementing a registration program does not have any effect on the duration of the rentals; therefore, the board members would not have to worry about state pre-emption of the county ordinance. A registration program, he noted, is “an administrative procedure.”
Osterhoudt also presented a slide that provided details about the county’s Code Enforcement work related to the illegal rental situation.
“In general,” he said, “we do receive complaints from neighborhoods about illegal rentals, and that’s how we focus on certain types of neighborhoods that might have that problem occurring.”
Staff generates investigations on its own, as well, he added, but he emphasized that the majority of Code Enforcement initiatives involving the rentals result from complaints.
The Code Enforcement process to obtain a Special Magistrate’s imposition of fines and fees for violations, he continued, “can easily be 90 days, so that is not a quick fix, if you will.”
Moreover, Osterhoudt pointed out, “We have to have substantial evidence” to seek Special Magistrate action.
“We do have witnesses participate,” he noted. “We do have neighbors who get involved in that Code Enforcement procedure and say, ‘I am willing to testify at a magistrate hearing.’ That is also very helpful and substantial evidence.”
Then Osterhoudt explained that advertisements of illegal rentals alone are violations of the County Code. Yet, the advertisements usually do not list the addresses of the properties — as he knows from using online rental platforms himself, he said. “You only find the address once you’re actually through the process.”
The online platforms and individual renters do feature photos of properties; Code Enforcement staff has used such photos in confirming complaints about illegal rentals, Osterhoudt indicated.
However, renters who become aware of those efforts have adjusted their advertisements, he said, to try to avoid Code Enforcement action.
Then Osterhoudt turned to details about registration programs, though he noted that those are “not universally being adopted.”
Along with the City of Sarasota, Ana Maria Island and Collier County are examples of local governments in the area that have implemented such programs, Osterhoudt said.
The third bullet on the relevant slide, he stressed, was among the most important of the points about the registration programs. That line said, “Programs can be simply focused on requiring rental properties register with the County through applications and fees, or can include additional regulatory requirements such as designated responsible parties, initial and ongoing inspections, parking arrangements, maximum occupancies, etc.”
Turning to the fact that software programs are available to help manage registration programs, Osterhoudt added, “The cost of that software would depend on how complex of a system you want. Do you just want people to register, or do you also want to add these other recurring things like inspections and so forth?”
Opposing viewpoints
During the Open to the Public comment period at the start of the meeting, Bryan Joseph, who said he lives in an unincorporated area of the county, asked the board members to remove the 30-day minimum requirement for short-term rentals in single-family residential zoning districts.
“This is an outdated rule; it’s hurting our local economy, violating basic fairness and treating many of us like second-class county residents,” Joseph told the commissioners.
He pointed out that properties existing in districts zoned Residential Multi-Family (RMF) on Siesta, Casey and Manasota keys are allowed to rent dwelling units more frequently than once every 30 days. “That’s great for them. It brings dollars, tourism to the county,” Joseph continued. “But the exact same County Code bans it everywhere else in unincorporated areas, including [single-family neighborhoods] on the islands themselves.”
Joseph added, “Why should one group of county taxpayers and property owners get to participate in tourism economy and the rest of us are locked out? It’s not fair.”
Conversely, Lourdes Ramirez, a Siesta Key resident who is president of the Sarasota County Council of Neighborhood Associations (CONA), told the commissioners, “If we’re serious about protecting our neighborhoods, then we have to be serious about enforcement on illegal rentals. We don’t need more regulations,” she added. “We already have them.”
Ramirez called for a county investment in more Code Enforcement personnel “to keep up with all the illegal rentals.”
Although no leader of the Siesta Key Association (SKA) was present to offer remarks, the organization provided The Sarasota News Leader a copy of the letter it sent to the commissioners. The following were among the points in that letter:
