LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor: It would serve our community well to evaluate the potential outcome of any short-term rental (STR) legislation before throwing support behind it. Locally, our goals of preserving mountain culture, protecting our environment, strengthening communities, and addressing affordability are unlikely to be helped by this bill. In the city of Ouray it could have a devastating impact on local initiatives.

Currently the city taxes STRs at 15% while lodging companies are taxed at 3.5%. Under Colorado’s STR legislation (Bill C) STRs would be classified as lodging companies. It’s a big win for the state with property taxes quadrupling, but detrimental to the cIty of Ouray as that 15% STR tax goes to 3.5% and we lose the tax dollars currently supporting affordable housing and the wastewater treatment facility.

There will likely be other unintended consequences resulting in a loss of local tax revenue from tour-

SEE STR ON PAGE 16 ism. As local homeowners limit rentals to keep below the 90-day limit, and second homeowners are forced to sell due to quadrupled property taxes, there will be less STRs available and less quality tourism. The city of Ouray has stated they don’t want more tourism, but want to attract tourists that stay locally and spend more money. This goal definitely will not be achieved by driving STRs out of the market.

We should never support legislation just because it sounds good. It takes no courage to pile on an easy target like second homeowners. However, that is exactly what our county commissioners did when they were among a handful of counties to lend their blind support to Bill C. No thought was put into how this legislation would impact the communities they represent. I hope our politicians and citizens alike find the courage to do the hard work in finding real solutions to what threatens the culture of our rural mountain towns.

Bubba from Texas (who owns just one house in CO, loves his community, provides local long-term housing, and supports local charities and artists)

Matt Crawford

Austin, Texas, and Ouray