The entire Breckenridge short-term lodging community will have to pay $400 per bedroom to the town at the start of 2022 after Breckenridge Town Council voted 5-2 to pass its new regulatory fee at the Nov. 23 meeting.
After the first reading of the ordinance, council wanted feedback from its new tourism overlay task force on the fee amount as well as potential exemptions. Council members Dick Carleton and Kelly Owens, who sit on the task force, said the group was not supportive of the idea of exemptions.
“They really felt that if we’re going to do this, it should be the same for everyone,” Carleton said. “It seemed like there was consensus on that one.”
Several council members were thrown off by the feedback considering the exemption they wanted to include was for locals who rent out their primary residence 21 or fewer days per year. Owens said the task force’s point was that if the fee is meant to help create more workforce housing opportunities for the community, then as many people as possible should pay it.
“There was a significant feeling of, ‘If you’re going to be charging a fee … trying to raise money for different housing programs, then don’t do a bunch of exceptions. Just move forward with the fee,’” Owens said.
Council members Dennis Kuhn and Carol Saade voted “no” again on second reading because they are nervous about the impact the fee will have on the lodging community with such a quick turnaround. Saade said if council was having this conversation in June and giving the community more time to prepare, she would be on board, but she said she is not comfortable doing so now without more of a heads up. Kuhn agreed and said he would have liked to see the fee start out even smaller to give folks more time to adjust.
Courtesy Summit Daily News.
