County Comptroller Is Looking At Short-Term Rentals

Short-term rentals—especially those advertised online on platforms like Airbnb, VRBO and Home Away, and especially on the East End—are the target of an ongoing investigation launched last summer by the Suffolk County comptroller’s office.

After an audit found approximately $250,000 worth of unpaid hotel/motel taxes and penalties throughout the county, Comptroller John M. Kennedy Jr. opened 40 cases and recovered $60,000, according to a press release. Members of his staff met in December with the East End Supervisors and Mayors Association to discuss ways to collaborate.

A 3-percent tax is levied for any lodging of fewer than 30 days. Proprietors are also required to register with the county to ensure not only that they pay taxes but also that emergency personnel can find out how many people are staying at a property at any time.

Bringing businesses into compliance with the county law will help villages and towns on the East End manage “traffic, overcrowding and rowdiness” associated with non-compliant rentals, according to the comptroller’s office.

With about 350 registered establishments in the county, almost $10 million was collected in 2015 through the hotel and motel tax, which is used to promote tourism, preserve historical sites and support cultural events.

“Establishments that have been in compliance with the law are mostly hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfasts,” the release said. “But that is not all that is operating in Suffolk County.

“Online reservation platforms … claim to have over 3,500 lodging establishments,” it continued. “These are businesses that should be collecting the hotel/motel tax and for the most part are not.”

The comptroller’s office said it will launch an education campaign early this year, offering advice to chambers of commerce and others in the hospitality industry to boost compliance.

“The comptroller’s initiative is to try to level the playing field,” explained Nerina Speri, an investigator auditor with the comptroller’s office, “and bring businesses into compliance with the hotel/motel tax law.”