At a work meeting earlier this month, Wasatch County Assessor Todd Griffin told the county council he estimates there are 700 nightly rentals operating in Wasatch County, and only about 25% of those have a business license.
That means the county’s missing out on taxes from hundreds of owners who rent their homes on host sites like AirBnB and by other methods.
“We restrict short-term rentals to area specific areas of the county,” said Austin Corry, Wasatch County senior planner. “The HOA has to explicitly allow short term rentals as part of the original approval when the development came through, or having gotten together as a group and decided that they wanted to allow short-term rentals.”
County Manager Dustin Grabau told KPCW one strategy the county may consider is to allow nightly rentals for more owners in the county in hopes that more would become licensed.
County officials like Corry, as well as local owners, have said the code is unclear. Corry also said the county currently doesn’t enforce most infractions of its existing code.
Jeff Harris owns and rents out five properties in the Heber Valley, including two under the jurisdiction of Wasatch County. He said stricter regulations would not only bring in more taxes, but also preserve the integrity of neighborhoods where nightly rentals are common.
“I think what will happen then,” he said, “is that people will take it more seriously, and then it'll eliminate the people that aren't really serious about doing this right, the guys that are just kind of doing this as a hobby and, or that don't really care if their neighbors are upset, loud noises, that kind of thing. So I think it'll eliminate the bad operators.”
Harris said he helped Heber City form its short-term rental code on an ad hoc committee. He’s planning to use his AirBnB income for retirement.
He said his properties are all licensed. He believed about 80% of those in the Heber Valley aren’t, and that most that have licenses are in Midway, where he said the code is most clearly defined.
A homeowner who didn’t want to be named told KPCW the Wasatch County property that he lists on AirBnB for about $100 a night plus fees earns $2,700 a month. He said he doesn’t have a license for it because he’s not allowed to get one in his area, but wishes he could get one.
Another owner told KPCW she operates without a license and makes a similar amount per month renting out her basement, especially during ski season. She said she’d welcome clearer rules as well.
County licenses cost $50 per year and are the main way the state can determine how much it owes to counties from the taxes it receives from host sites like AirBnB.
At the council meeting earlier this month, councilors said they’d be willing to look into updating the code.
Councilor Steve Farrell said his willingness to make changes will depend on the impact to residents. He said if attracting more nightly rentals to the county will have an overall negative effect on quality of life, it’s not worth a bump in tax revenue.
