News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Putnam County Commission’s Short-Term Rental Committee discussed the structure of a potential permitting system for Airbnbs Thursday.
Kathy Dunn serves as the committee chair and commissioner of Putnam County’s 11th district.
“We just made some suggestions to the regulations that were proposed to the planning commission and some of us had concerns,” Dunn said. “We wanted to clarify some of those issues and make it fair to the people who are operating short-term rental units as well as the hotel and motel folks.”
The five-person committee made up of county commissioners met for the first time Thursday.
The policy requires a permit for each short-term rental unit being operated, with each permit costing $50 per year. For example, operators who own five units across the county will need five separate permits at $250.
“I think we’ve done things that’ll protect property owners and homeowners in areas where short-term rental units are already existing or hope to exist,” Dunn said.
The proposal would allow the county to collect hotel-motel tax revenue from short-term rentals.
Dunn said estimates from the county trustee’s office indicate the short-term rentals could be a significant revenue stream for the county.
“As (County Trustee) Freddie Nelson stated tonight, there’s only… eight people who are currently paying those taxes properly,” Dunn said, “and they’ve identified as many as 50 (short-term rental) properties in the county. So there’s quite a few guys flying under the radar, it sounds like.”
The short-term rental committee will meet once more to finalize the details of the system before passing their recommendation to the commission’s planning committee in July.
