St. Louis voters will decide in November whether they want to levy a fee on the operators of short-term rentals.
The Board of Aldermen voted 10-1 Friday to send the proposal to Mayor Tishaura Jones. She plans to sign the measure. One alderwoman voted present.
If voters say yes, the owner of a property being used as a short-term rental would pay a 3% fee. All of the money raised would go to affordable housing programs, including construction of new units.
“Housing is essentially a zero-sum game,” the sponsor, 4th Ward Alderman Bret Narayn, said in late June during a discussion on the measure before the board gave it initial approval.
“Every house that is taken off of the market to become a short-term rental is a house that a family or a member of our community cannot live in full-time.”
The lone no vote came from 8th Ward Alderwoman Cara Spencer, a mayoral candidate. While she acknowledged the importance of affordable housing, she said the city finds itself unable to provide basic services like trash pickup.
“We have very limited ways in which we can tax our residents, or impose user fees,” she said. “We should be considering this as a mechanism to do these basic functions.”
It’s unclear how much the proposed fee would generate because the city does not know many short-term rentals are in operation. A new registration and permitting process takes effect in November. Operators of short-term rentals would have until next May to come into compliance with the regulations.
Proposed charter changes
Aldermen on Friday also set in motion the process of bringing proposals from the city’s charter commission to voters.
Assuming the board approves the bills and the mayor does not veto them, voters in November will also consider the following:
- Giving aldermen the authority to increase and decrease the budget without the approval of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.
- Making the city attorney a position that is appointed by the mayor and approved by the Board of Aldermen and giving aldermen the authority to oust the attorney on a two-thirds vote.
- Giving aldermen the authority to use their legislative power to restructure city departments.
- Creating a Department of Transportation.
- Updating language in the city charter, such as removing gendered pronouns, updating public notice requirements and changing the name of the Board of Alderman to the City Council.
- Moving municipal elections from March and April of odd years to August and November, either of odd or even years.
- Changing the way the city collects special tax bills.
- Eliminating the $500 limit on fines for municipal ordinance violations.
- Creating the position of public advocate, an elected position similar to a city auditor.
The board’s Legislation and Rules Committee will take public comment on the proposals on July 23. That’s so far the only hearing for input scheduled, but board President Megan Green said others may be scheduled depending on the feedback. Aldermen will hold special meetings on Aug. 8 and Aug. 16 in order to meet an Aug. 27 deadline to place items on the ballot in November.
