ANNA MARIA – City officials and their allies are gearing up to oppose the newest attempts by the Florida Legislature to preempt more local short-term vacation rental regulations to the state.
This year, the Legislature is considering Senate Bill 714 and House Bill 833. Senator Nick DiCeglie (R-St. Petersburg) sponsored SB 714 and State Rep. Wyman Duggan (R-Jacksonville) sponsored HB 833.
In addition to limiting local government’s ability to register, inspect and regulate short-term vacation rentals, the proposed legislation seeks to give the state the exclusive regulation of online advertising platforms such as Vrbo and Airbnb.
The proposed legislation would also impact Florida cities financially by cap- ping the annual vacation rental registration fee that can be charged.
“Local governments may charge a fee of no more than $50 for processing an individual registration application or $100 for processing a collective registration application,” according to SB 714.
Commission reaction
Commissioners discussed SB 714 at the Feb. 23 Anna Maria City Commission meeting.
“It pretty much makes us a gatekeeper for people to register a vacation rental,” Mayor Dan Murphy said. “Even with that, you could do blanket registrations. If you’ve got 75 homes in our city, you can just do one blanket registration. It takes away the registration fee we use to enforce our (vacation rental) ordinance. It takes away our being able to regulate the advertising program, which is key to enforcing occupancy.”
This year, the city of Anna Maria is charging an annual registration fee of $84.17 per occupant allowed in accordance with the city’s vacation rental ordinance. This year’s annual fee for four-occupant vacation rentals is $336, with a six-occupant vacation rental fee of $505 and a 12-occupant vacation rental fee of $1,010. The registration fees are projected to generate approximately $415,000 for vacation rental enforcement during the 2022-23 fiscal year.
“It totally guts everything,” City Attorney Becky Vose said. “It’s a horrendous statute. Hopefully, it won’t pass.”
“What this amounts to for people who live in Anna Maria is a tax increase be- cause the money that’s collected through these registration fees is only collected
in order to enforce these regulations. It’s going to have to be made up somewhere else,” Commissioner Charlie Salem said. “This problem stretches over the bridge. We hear more stories about vacation rentals popping up in Palma Sola, west Bradenton and Bradenton. So, this problem, while it’s been acute on the Island, is coming to a neighborhood in Manatee County. The residents of Manatee County and their representatives should be really concerned. It basically amounts to residents funding vacationers’ activities, and I don’t think that’s what their intent is.”
Murphy noted the city has been fighting this annual legislative battle for the past six years. To combat these latest efforts, the city will again rely on its contracted lobbyist and the city-owned www.Hom- eRuleFl.com website that provides concerned citizens with issue-specific form letters that target key state legislators.
