State Representative Joey Andrews has been spreading the word about short-term rental legislation coming up for a hearing in Lansing next week.
Andrews is the lead sponsor of the package intended to cement the authority of local governments to regulate STRs while helping them recoup some of the costs. He spoke to the Lincoln Township Board of Trustees this week and said the legislation creates a registry for STRs.
“The goal here is to help identify where these things are, to make it easier for our local governments to enforce regulations, licensing, zoning, that sort of thing on them,” Andrews said.
The package creates a 6% local excise tax on short-term rentals that could be imposed by municipalities if they so choose.
Andrews got some pushback from Trustee Marc Florian, who said this tax, along with existing taxes and a convention and visitors bureau assessment, would be a burden on STR owners.
“Instead of having 6% use tax and 6% excise tax, you now have 5% on top of that, which brings our total to 17%…So the short-term rental owners will now be at a competitive disadvantage over local hotels and motels,” Florian said.
Florian said hotels and motels pay an 11% state tax. It was noted Florian owns a short-term rental.
Andrews also got pushback from Kevin Whiteford, a Republican running in the primary to face off against Andrews later this year. Whiteford said no one should trust the state to let local governments keep the excise tax money.
Florian said the Lincoln Township Planning Commission studied the legislation and decided not to support it. However, Township Supervisor Dick Stauffer said he supports it because it would generate money for the township that could be used for parks.
The legislation has the support of several other communities in the 38th state House district, including the city of St. Joseph.
