June 30, 2017 at 3:38 p.m.
Oneida tourism council grapples with challenges presented by short-term rentals
County lacks manpower to police existing ordinance
Oneida tourism council grapples with challenges presented by short-term rentals
Tourists flock from all over the Midwest and beyond to spend their vacation time in God's Country and many Northwoods residents take advantage of the demand for lodging by renting our their homes, cabins or even extra rooms on a short-term basis.
The practice is illegal if the rental is for less than 30 days, as county ordinances prohibit the rental of homes for less than 30 days at a time unless the property is a registered hotel, resort or bed and breakfast operation, but that hasn't stopped many enterprising homeowners from flouting the rules to generate extra money.
This has caused considerable frustration for the hospitality industry as local hotel and resort owners are forced to compete with short-term rentals for heads to put in beds.
The problem has grown so great that the Oneida County Tourism Council had an extended discussion June 22 on how to enforce the ordinance.
Council member Dan Brekke, who represents Pelican Promotions on the council and owns Brekke's Fireside Resort, said he asked for the item to be placed on the council's agenda for discussion.
He noted that other tourism groups he serves on have had discussions on the matter, but he is still looking for answers as to how to address the problem.
"You can't stop people from doing something that's legal," Brekke said. "But sometimes, on the other side of that, you run into situations where if you're in a room tax collecting district, they're not collecting room tax. There are certain things that are going outside of that, that's why I thought it would be good to have a discussion on this."
Kari Zambon, also of Pelican Promotions, said Airbnb has recently agreed to start collecting state and county taxes, but still doesn't collect room taxes which are collected by many local municipalities.
"So we're still coming up short," Zambon said. "There is no legal requirement for them to have appropriate insurance or pay the licensing or the rest of the things that the rest of us have to pay."
Krystal Westfahl, executive director of the Minocqua Area Chamber of Commerce, said the penalty for violating the 30-day rule is so light that many are willing to chance it.
"Anything under 30 days is illegal in Oneida County," Westfahl said. "So they have to have a 30-day rental agreement or it's null and void. Now, of course, there are people who are breaking the law. Oneida County has one person who is working on that and there is a fine if you're breaking the law, if you're renting for under 30 days. But the penalty, from what I've been told, is just a slap on the wrist."
Town of Hazelhurst chairman Ted Cushing said several people have been fined for renting their homes for less than 30 days.
"It's everywhere, they just kind of go back at it," Westfahl said. "In the Minocqua area with our four communities and room taxes, we've had this discussion multiple times, everybody has. It's the county that has to increase the restrictions or increase the enforcement. But I don't think that is necessarily in the budget to do so. So it's really neighbors telling on their friends."
"Some of these places have been grandfathered," Cushing noted. "Those who have been doing it since before the ordinance was put into place, and they can rent them weekly."
Westfahl said the zoning of the property is key in determining how long a home may be rented out. People who own homes zoned family housing, unless grandfathered, cannot rent for periods less than 30 days.
"It's all zoning requirements," she said.
Cushing said the subject comes up at every meeting of the Northwest Wisconsin International Trade, Business and Economic Development Council (ITBEC) and he has learned there isn't a lot that the 10-county group can do about the problem either.
"Everybody gets very frustrated with it," he said. "I can tell you right now Oneida County isn't going to put 10 people on the payroll to enforce this."
Cushing also noted that the health department is not inspecting these rental homes.
"There is only one person. There are literally not enough hours in the day to get it done," he said.
Zambon said if the contact information and location is forwarded to the county, a cease and desist letter will be sent to violators.
"As town chairman, I get copied on all these letters every month," Cushing added. "What good do they do? I don't know."
"It almost sounds like you're saying the problem is too big to tackle," Brekke interjected.
Cushing said he believes rising property taxes have played a role in this phenomenon. Some homes are now in the hands of a fourth generation, having been passed down through the years, and the current owners are struggling to pay the tax bill.
"They just can't afford the taxes anyone," he said.
"That doesn't make it OK," Zambon replied.
Westfahl said she has traveled to Madison two years in a row to lobby for tougher penalties for violators. This part of the state is so tourism and resort dependent it is imperative that illegal rentals are kept in check, she said.
"To keep them (resorts) on a fair level, we don't want a bunch of people coming in and stealing their thunder,' she said. "The realtors association is the big driver behind it, they want to have that (current ordinances) changed, they want to make it all legal. But if they make it all legal, does that mean that they have to have health inspections and insurance?"
"They're (realtors) aren't concerned at all," Zambon said. "They want to sell homes and one of the ways they sell homes is to say if you buy this, you can rent it out and it will pay your mortgage. So they are definitely not looking out for the best interests of the state or the community."
"What do we do, as a tourism council, to move forward?" Westfahl asked, turning to her colleagues.
Rhinelander Chamber of Commerce director Maggie Steffen said the chamber board recently discussed the same issue.
"The Rhinelander chamber was thinking that the county had more teeth than local," Steffen said. "But it sounds like local might have more teeth than county."
Brekke said the same thing happens at every meeting he has attended on the subject, fingers are pointed toward other entities to address the problem.
"And then you just kind of go around in a circle because it is such a tough thing to enforce," he said. "Nobody wants to put the resources behind it."
He suggested that if the practice is illegal, the revenue from fines could be used to fund a person whose sole job is to enforce the ordinance.
Westfahl said the county could amend the ordinance to allow shorter duration rentals of single family residential-zoned properties, but make it a requirement that they be on a level playing field with providers of commercial accommodations as far as insurance, inspections and room taxes.
"Because we don't want to encourage people to come and stay here and the house burns down," she said.
Myles Alexander of the Oneida County UW-Extension said municipalities across the state are grappling with this problem, along with Uber and other under-regulated services.
Cushing suggested county zoning director Karl Jennrich be invited to the next meeting so the council can share its concerns with him. The group also discussed reaching out to other northern counties to see if a group approach might make enforcement easier.
Other business
In other business, the council approved an application for a JEM Grant to help fund a web and in-person branding survey that will start this summer and continue into the winter. Information gained from the survey will be used to put together new branding and advertising for the county's tourism activities. The council voted to go ahead and start the process now, before they hear if the county will receive a frant, because the in-person or intercept surveys should be disseminated at events held in the county over the summer.
Jamie Taylor may be reached at [email protected].
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