|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The San Ramon City Council is set to finalize some old business at their regular meeting Tuesday night before discussing the potential implementation of a new tax on short-term residential rentals.
To begin with new business, the council will discuss developing a short-term rental plan with the purpose of regulating and collecting a transient occupancy tax (TOT) from short-term rentals in the city, generally considered as rentals of fewer than 30 days.
Short-term rentals, such as Airbnb and VRBO, offer visitors to the city or out-of-area commuters the opportunity to rent a furnished home or apartment to stay in for a limited amount of time. This is done in a way that is similar to a visitor renting a hotel room, but usually the owner lives in the rented property when they are not renting it out.
Currently, the city has a TOT that charges hotels a tax based on how many rooms are occupied every night, however this tax does not yet extend to short-term rental properties despite their directly competing with the cities hotels.
If the council were to approve a tax on short-term rentals, city staff estimate that it could bring in $57,000 in TOT revenue per year — based on the estimated 50 properties currently listed online for short-term rental in San Ramon.
In addition, the business licensing fees could bring in an additional $7,500. Staff does note however that potential revenue is hard to predict, and any revenue could potentially be offset by increased costs for code enforcement or audits.
City officials will recommend the council provide them with direction on how to deal with this issue, be it creating and enforcing a plan to tax short-term rentals, or leave them be.
The council will be hold its regular meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. inside the council chamber at San Ramon City Hall, 7000 Bollinger Canyon Road.
In other business
* The council will have a breadth of old business to discuss as well. One of these key discussions will revolve around the potential implementation of the San Ramon Bicycle Master Plan.
The plan is intended to be a general planning tool, that is flexible enough to evolve and change over time as needed. Key goals of the plan include creating safer routes for bicyclists to take, encourage biking as a viable form of transportation through the city and provide consistent and convenient bicycle facilities.
Approving the plan on Tuesday would not have any initial financial impact on the city’s budget. The city has already secured two grants totaling $105,000 and an appropriation of $5,380 from the traffic improvement fund, to go towards any potential improvement to the cities bicycle infrastructure.
* The council will consider increasing commission stipends paid to the Planning Commission and Parks and Community Services Commission members.
The recommendation calls for a $50-per-month raise for planning commissioners to $250 monthly and $25 per month of parks commissioners to $125 monthly.
* To wrap up old business, the council will hold a public hearing on adopting fees and charges for the 2018-19 fiscal year. A standard part of reviewing the city budget process, city staff will present the council with documents detailing the fees and charges for various municipal services.
* The council will also hear a special presentation by the San Ramon Valley Street Smarts “Be Reel!” video contest award winners. The Be Reel! Contest encourages middle school aged filmmakers to create a public service announcement on a traffic safety theme. This years theme was “Gear up for Safety.”
* The council will recognize San Ramon’s Government 101 graduates. Government 101 is a class offered by San Ramon to enhance residents understanding of how city government works.
Taxing AirBnB…
Also to be considered is the fact that such rentals are typically more affordable so that renters are more likely to:
a. Visit the area
b. Stay longer
c. Have more disposable funds during there visit…
Such factors having all influenced me during stays in other locations.
Yes, these provide some competition for hotels but not necessarily apples to apples.
Note: I do not live in San Ramon but do live in an adjacent community that may or not be tempted to follow suite, I also live close enough to benefit from affordable options for when an influx of visitors overwhelms our hospitality.
I live in San Ramon and don’t welcome further regulation and taxation of my private property.
I’m a San Ramon resident and I agree that we do not need further regulation or taxation on our property. I don’t rent out my home on a short term basis at this time but I might consider it at some time in the future. I certainly would not be looking forward to a lot of red-tape and fees to be able to do this.
As an San Ramon resident and avid cyclist I would welcome the opportunity to assist San Ramon in developing a master plan for cycling. There are so many existing impediments to cycling is San Ramon that we have so many opportunities to improve.
1) We need to clearly define and mark bike lanes like Danville and Dublin have.
2) We need to reduce and monitor speeds on main roads that have bike paths, like Bollinger Canyon
3) We need to improve bicycle access to the new San Ramon Center so that cyclists from all over the city and beyond can cycle there safely
4) We need to completely revamp bicycle access on Bollinger Canyon between Alcosta and Canyon Lakes. The existing path is dangerous as in non-compliance and the roadway is too narrow. We need bike lanes in both directions on that stretch of Bollinger all the way to the new City Center.
5) We need to take another look at the pain that is used to stripe bike lanes to insure it is non-slip.
6) We need to evaluate dangerous intersections from a cyclists perspective. Live Doughtery and Bollinger for example: The existing bike lane is only for going straight on Doughtery so to make a right turn you either need to cross in front of a right turning vehicle or be pinched against the curb by a right turning vehicle.
7) We could certainly improve signage to alert auto drivers that San Ramon is a bike friendly city. Slow down and Share the road.
There are lots of other ideas like where to route bike routes in and around the city and I would be more than willing to assist the city in any way possible.
But it’s ok for bicyclists to run stop signs and red lights?
Just sayin’