Dear Editor,
I found the article ( The Eatonton Messenger, Sept. 21) on short-term rentals (STRs) very informative.
The article gave a lot of numbers and different ways of looking at the numbers. However, the article did not present a cost-benefit analysis.
It seems that the Putnam County Commission considers the major benefit to be that STRs will generate more tax dollars. Really?
The county is unlikely to gain any revenue from additional property taxes since the owners of the STRs are nonresidents and already pay property taxes at the full assessed value.
Based on the 2023 budget, the county expects to net about $220,000 from the existing 260 STRs. That is less than $1,000 per STR. Expanding the number of STRs to 350 might increase the county revenue by about $100,000. Not a significant amount considering that the county operating budget is over $29M.
It appears that the real beneficiary is the Chamber of Commerce, which will receive tens of thousands more in hotel/motel taxes. Will any of the revenues actually come back to District 3 or District 4, which contain over 90% of the STRs?
The cost of STRs certainly would include the cost of issuing permits and the possible hiring of some part-time code enforcement personnel. Will there be any money left after those expenses are met? The real cost is to the residents who must put up with the STRs.
Can we put a dollar figure on the loss of peace and tranquility?
The County Commission needs to stop the commercial invasion of single-family neighborhoods – just for a few dollars more.
Steve Hersey, District 3 Candidate