HomeMy WebLinkAboutre vacation rental ROT_201401211454513385ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF NONVOTIING TAXPAYERS
TOWN AND COUNTY BUILDING
NANTUCKET, MA 02554
October 2, 2010
Board of Selectmen, via
Town Manager Libby Gibson
In our letter of September 6, 2008 (copy given Ms. Gibson on August 7,
2010), we expressed concern to your Board that the Room Occupancy Tax
should extend to rental of investor-owned lodging units in hotels. That
concern arose from reported plans of the Point Breeze to set up a program of
investor-owned lodging units.
We have now considered proposals to extend the Room Occupancy Tax to
seasonal vacation home rentals. Article 66 of the 2010 Annual Town
Meeting warrant, proposed by your Board, could have led to State-enabling
legislation. We understand that the article was narrowly defeated.
Given prospective Town revenue shortfalls. we recommend that the BOS
again submit such a home rule petition to Town Meeting. Voters might find
the petition for enabling legislation more palatable if criteria for putting it
into effect were spelled out, e.g., a prerequisite finding by the BOS that
critical financial needs of the Town substantially outweighed risk of
adversely affecting the island economy.
A further suggestion is to not impose the tax on rentals below $40/day. The
$15/day threshold in Article 66 could make the tax applicable to the Star of
the Sea Hostel, charging more than $15. Exempted from the ROT might also
be rentals totaling only two weeks or less for an entire year. If rentals at Our
Island Home or other elderly facility are sometimes for 90 days or less, the
article should make more clear that it is directed toward vacation and
travelers’’ rentals.
Respectfully,
Howard Blitman, Chairman, ACNVT