by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Thousands have already signed on to rent their homes to Super Bowl tourists, but a recent “glitch” has some City officials scratching their heads.
According to City Council president and Tourist Development Commission chair Lad Daniels, few enrolled in a Host Committee home rental program may be aware of the additional taxes they have to pay.
Specifically, said Daniels, a levied six percent bed tax.
“That was one of the concerns we had come up with recently when we started looking at this program more closely,” he said. “People began lining up to put their homes up for rent, hoping to make a quick buck.
“We still hope people can make a quick buck on this, but we want them to pay their taxes, too. I don’t think very many people, even people who are renting outside of the program, know anything about that.”
Council auditors said the tax “goes hand in glove” with any rental property occupied less than six months.
That includes rental homes and possibly cruise ships, which will be used to house visitors.
“This kind of tax is not any different than what a hotel has to pay all the time,” said auditor Janice Billy. “Six percent may not sound like a lot, but it does add up.”
Billy and auditor Kirk Sherman said bed tax revenue in Duval County, about $12 million currently is divided equally among the TDC, Alltel Stadium and the Osborn Center.
“It really is an incredible amount of money that’s strictly based on lodging,” said Sherman. “We’re doing our best to make sure people know they need to pay it.”
Daniels said steps are currently being taken to “get everyone on the same page.”
The first step will be placing various links on the Host Committee website.
“It’s basically going to come down to getting offices like the property appraiser and the tax collector on board with us,” he said. “For instance, if someone needs access to a particular form or application, we think it would work well if they could click on a link and get it right there.
“It saves everyone a lot of time and it makes sure everyone has all of the information they need, the nuts and bolts of it.”
Still in the preliminary phase, City Council secretary Cheryl Brown said representatives from the Host Committee have been asked to appear at the TDC’s meeting next week.
“At this point, we just have a lot of questions that we need answered,” she said. “While we have them there we’ll work toward satisfying all of them.
“We want to understand the nature of the program and be as accurate as possible with the information we’re giving out, take away all of the guess work. Everything needs to be addressed because this is the first time we’ve had to look beyond our hotels and motels with respect to local lodging options. We want to be sure we can keep our constituents out of trouble on this.”