The Paso Robles city council holding a special meeting this morning to discuss the impacts of the coronavirus scare. Although the meeting will be held at the library conference room, most will communicate by teleconferencing. You can listen to the meeting live on the city’s website, prcity.com/youtube.
On the agenda, designation of the city’s agents in applying for reimbursement from the California governor’s Office of Emergency Services. An update on COVID-19 locally. And the council will also revisit a familiar topic, Short Term Rental and hotel transit occupancy tax.
The council is recommended by staff to adopt an Urgency Ordiance which will waive penalties and interest for late transit occupancy tax revenues. You may remember the controversy over short term rentals last June. Mayor Steve Martin outlined three options before the council. Many residents blasted the short term rentals. Two council member recused themselves from the discussion. But ultimately, after a 180 degree flip fop, the council voted to allow short term rentals in residential zones, unlike what is permitted in cities like San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Napa, Sonoma and twenty other cities in California.
Now, the council is going to consider waiving penalties and interest for short term rentals who are late in paying the transit occupancy tax. Those taxes are paid by renters when they pay for the rental of the property. The property owners are sitting on the money, but if the council approves the measure today, they will not be penalized or charged interest if they are late in playing the TOT to the city for revenue received until August 31st.
That meeting begins at 9:30 this morning. You can hear the meeting live on the city’s website: Prcity.com/youtube. If you visit the city’s website, it will explain how to find it.
