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⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 12 findings
F1
The county has adopted and subsequently updated a vacation rental ordinance in Avila Beach, Cambria and Cayucos intended to maintain community quality of life and ensure consistency in vacation rental policy.
No recommendations for this finding
F2
The number of licensed vacation rentals in these areas of the county is growing.
No recommendations for this finding
F3
Many residents are unaware of the provisions of the ordinance dealing with the licensing and management of vacation rentals.
No recommendations for this finding
F4
The county has placed a low priority on enforcing provisions of the ordinance dealing with the licensing and management of vacation rentals.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
The Board of Supervisors should provide direction and funding to place higher priority on enforcing coastal vacation rental regulations.
F5
While the county has a process to respond to parking and noise issues connected with vacation rentals when they are brought to the attention of the Sheriff, California Highway Patrol or Planning Department, residents have no effective way to identify the property manager who is supposed to be the first level of contact for such complaints.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
To better support the complaint process, the county should implement a way for residents to identify the appropriate property manager for a vacation rental. This could be to require an annual notification to neighbors by the property manager or having the county maintain a public online listing of vacation rental contacts.
F6
The county has no proactive programs to identify unlicensed vacation rentals even though officials believe the number may be significant.
Related Recommendations (2)
R4
The Tax Collector and the Planning Department should develop and implement a process to deal with the issues of unlicensed vacation rentals and unused or minimally used transient occupancy tax certificates.
R6
The Planning Department should create and post on its website a list of licensed vacation rentals by address so concerned individuals can confirm whether a given property is a licensed vacation rental.
F7
Although the county can identify those homeowners whose transient occupancy tax certificate generates little or no revenue, the county has no policy that limits the renewal of such certificates and associated business licenses.
Related Recommendations (2)
R3
The Tax Collector should set a minimum level of revenue to be generated over a set time period (e.g., 2 to 3 years) in order to retain a transient occupancy tax certificate.
R4
The Tax Collector and the Planning Department should develop and implement a process to deal with the issues of unlicensed vacation rentals and unused or minimally used transient occupancy tax certificates.
F8
There is no termination process for inactive or unused vacation rental licenses.
No recommendations for this finding
F9
The county loses revenue when property owners or managers operate unlicensed vacation rentals and do not pay relevant taxes and fees.
Related Recommendations (2)
R5
The Planning Department should enforce the requirement to list transient occupancy tax certificate numbers on advertised vacation rental listings.
R7
The Planning Department should determine and fund a way to monitor whether advertised vacation rentals are properly licensed, thus ensuring collection of related taxes and fees, which can more than cover these costs.
F10
The county loses revenue when individuals obtain transient occupancy tax certificates and then do not use them since this effectively blocks others from obtaining such certificates and using them.
No recommendations for this finding
F11
Increased enforcement of vacation rental license compliance and associated tax and fee revenue collection would generate funds to cover the costs of such activity.
No recommendations for this finding
F12
The Planning Department and the Office of the Auditor, Controller, Treasurer and Tax Collector (Tax Collector) do not coordinate with one another on issues of unlicensed vacation rentals or with licensed vacation rentals which pay little or no transient occupancy taxes.
No recommendations for this finding
Conclusions 1
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CL1San Luis Obispo County abounds with areas popular with tourists. As a result, many property owners list their units as vacation rentals. To ensure that such rentals are both licensed and fit in with the overall quality of life in their respective neighborhoods, the Board enacted ordinances to regulate vacation rentals and to set taxes and fees associated with their operation. However, many aspects of those ordinances are not being effectively enforced. Still other elements of the ordinances could be improved with simple adjustments. In addition, because the county does not ensure vacation rentals are licensed, it is losing tax revenue. Such revenues are likely sufficient to pay not only for enforcement activities but also generate additional revenue for the county general fund. There is also a question of fairness. Current practices allow some owners to avoid following regulations, while others fully follow the law. Lax enforcement encourages more people to ignore the code. Given the importance of tourism to the county’s economy, the Grand Jury believes better oversight of vacation rentals is a goal the county should pursue.
Agency Responses 5
Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.