Sec. 6-1-25. Annual Short Term Rental Regulatory Fee Program.
Legislative Intent, Findings and Imposition of Fee.
(1) It is the purpose and intent of this section for the Town of Telluride to protect the public health, safety and welfare of the citizens and visitors of the Town by establishing and enacting a comprehensive Short Term Rental Unit regulatory program that is intended to create an equitable and balanced system to regulate the short term rental industry and the local needs of the Telluride community.
The Town’s Short Term Rental Unit Regulatory Fee Program pursuant to this section will benefit the short term rental industry, the visitor base coming to the Telluride community and the local workforce by financially supporting housing programs and projects that thereby enhance the Town of Telluride as a resort economy.
The Town’s Short Term Rental Unit Regulatory Fee Program will assist in addressing the impacts caused by the short term rental industry in the Town in a manner that is consistent with the legal standard that the Short Term Rental Unit Regulatory Fee has a reasonable relationship with both the direct and the indirect costs of regulating the activity and the impacts of the activity on the Telluride community along with creating a program that is likely to benefit those that pay into the Town’s Short Term Rental Regulatory Fee Program.
(2) The Town’s Short Term Rental Unit Regulatory Fee Program was established by the Town following a detailed fee study by an expert consulting firm to establish a reasonable amount for the fee. The Short Term Rental Unit Regulatory Fee Program is specifically designed to impose a charge for the purpose of defraying some of the costs of Town services, programs and involvement in the short term rental industry, including the direct and indirect costs of the following:
•The Town’s housing policies, programs and affordable housing construction that are either required by the visitor spending that is supported by the short term rental industry or the housing demand that is created by the visitor spending within the short term rental industry; and,
•Addressing and responding to the secondary impacts in the Telluride community by the short term rental industry, including the impact on neighborhoods where short term rental units are located and enforcement of existing TMC provisions regulating the short term industry; and,
•To defray costs incurred by the Town for staff and personnel required for the implementation, administration and enforcement of the Short Term Rental Unit Regulatory Fee Program.
(3) The Town will establish a separate fund entitled the Town’s Short Term Rental Unit Regulatory Fee Program Fund that will keep and specifically use such revenues for the limited purposes of Section 6-1-25(2); the Town’s revenue from the Short Term Rental Unit Regulatory Fee Program shall not be used for general municipal or governmental purposes or spending nor shall the proceeds of the Town’s Short Term Rental Unit Regulatory Fee Program ever be transferred to or become part of the Town’s general fund.
(4) Effective with all new Town Short Term Rental Unit business licenses issued for the 2024 calendar year and then annually thereafter, the Town’s Short Term Rental Unit Regulatory Fee Program hereby imposes on all Classic Licenses, an annual fee in the amount of $857 per studio unit (if applicable) or per bedroom or per Sleeping Room in any Short Term Rental Unit, which is a forty percent (40%) mitigation rate of the applicable Town Short Term Rental Unit Regulatory Fee. The Town’s formula for determining this annual fee for Town’s Short Term Rental Unit Regulatory Fee Program shall be maintained by the Town Clerk.
(5) Consistent with the provisions of Section 6-1-20, the Town’s Short Term Rental Unit Regulatory Fee Program and the fee imposed by Section 6-1-25(4) shall be subject to increase by Town Council resolution. (Ord. 1578 §1 (Exh. A), 2023)