Legislation to regulate short-term rentals is coming together in Lansing, and state Representative Joey Andrews has been spreading the word this week with a series of listening sessions. He spoke in St. Joseph Thursday to a packed house. Andrews told us the legislation coming together would allow local governments to continue setting their own rules for vacation rentals within residential zones.
“Local control was really the guiding light here,” Andrews said. “We wanted communities to be able to do what was best for them. St. Joe has found a really good balance, and we don’t want to upset that balance. So, we were trying to build a frame around the issue so we could ease the burdens that all the municipalities have around enforcement and tax revenue without trying to tell them how to govern.”
The package would create a state registry for short-term rentals through which residents could lodge complaints. It would also expand the hotel tax to cover STRS and create an opt-in 6% excise tax on STRs. About 1% of the money generated from it would go to pay for the registry, while the other 5% would go back to the local governments so they can recoup costs created by their short-term rentals. Andrews earlier in the week held listening sessions in South Haven and New Buffalo. It’s off to Saugatuck next.
