Eagle County could have new short-term rental regulations in time for the summer season
Any regulations will require a new administration system
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Eagle County officials a year ago hoped to have some sort of short-term rental regulations in place for the 2023-24 ski season. That didn’t happen. Regulations may be in place for this summer.
Looking last year into some kind of regulatory system, research showed that about 14% of condos, townhomes and single-family units in unincorporated Eagle County are used for short-term rentals. The vast majority of those units are in Beaver Creek, Arrowhead and Cordillera.
Eagle County Commissioner Matt Scherr in a recent phone interview said while he and fellow commissioners Jeanne McQueeney and Kathy Chandler-Henry had hoped to have regulations in place for the winter season now winding down, “there’s no massive rush” to have regulations in place.
Scherr said county staff is now looking at possible vendors for a regulatory system, and a system could be in place in perhaps four to eight weeks.
Scherr noted its likely any regulatory system will start small, with just registration, and a requirement to pay the county’s lodging tax.
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That 2% tax was approved by voters in 2022, and is levied on all lodging properties in unincorporated Eagle County as well as the town of Gypsum. The county’s other towns already had their own lodging taxes.
Most of the proceeds from the tax — 90% — are dedicated to help fund housing and early childhood services. The remainder is reserved for marketing and promotion.
A portion of the taxes from short-term rentals in unincorporated Eagle County and the town of Gypsum would go into that fund.
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Scherr noted that one of the problems in creating a short-term tax administration system is creating a bureaucracy the county doesn’t currently have.
Once officials determine how much that administration system costs, any registration fee would have to cover the costs of running the program, Scherr said.
