North Kona and South Kohala are home to about 80% of short-term vacation rentals on the island and 87% of complaints about STVRs registered countywide with the Planning Department.
That’s according to analysis presented Thursday to the Leeward Planning Commission, as commissioners were given an update about STVRs registered to date in advance of upcoming changes to the law that would include annual renewal fees for all STVRs, not only the ones that had to receive special permits for being located in nonconforming areas.
“South Kohala and North Kona are of course the heavy hitters for STVRs,” said Alex Roy, a planner in the department.
Islandwide, more than 3,000 STVRs were approved in conforming areas 2019, the first year of the registration program. Another 242 were approved in 2020 and 145 in 2021, all within permitted areas.
There were initially more than 1,000 STVRs approved in non-conforming areas such as residential districts that were grandfathered in when the new law was implemented. That number shrunk to 982 during the first round of renewals.
In all, the department received 160 complaints about vacation rentals since 2019.
The North Kona district accounted for 1,942 of all registrations since 2019 and 109 of the complaints. South Kohala had 1,576 registrations and 30 complaints.
South Kona had 73 initial registrations, all in nonconforming areas, a number which has dwindled to 61. There were 12 complaints since 2019 about vacation rentals in the district. North Kohala had 12 registrations, all in nonconforming areas, a number that’s dropped to eight. There were nine complaints in that district about vacation rentals.
Vacation rentals, which are often rented from online platforms such as Airbnb, HomeAway and Expedia, are defined as dwelling units where the owner or operator does not reside on the building site, that has no more than five bedrooms for rent and is rented for a period of 30 consecutive days or less. New vacation rentals are allowed only in commercial and resort nodes.
It’s especially important to get a good handle on the number of STVRs on the island and ensure they’re registered because the county has now been charged with collecting its own transient accommodations tax surcharge, a 3% charge added to the 10.25% state portion of the tax.
Annual registration would bring in money through registration fees to help make the program self-supporting while also creating a base to check against tax filings, said Planning Director Zendo Kern, who’s been working with the administration and County Council to prepare a bill.
“I promised to pick this issue back up this year, so look forward to working with the planning director, his team and community members to reshape the regulation,” said council Planning Committee Chairwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz. “Enough time has passed for the department to know what tweaks can and should be made.”
He said the majority of existing STVRs probably are paying their TAT and general excise taxes, but “some may be slipping by.”
Commissioner Faith Yates doesn’t think tax collection should be a problem.
“If they can track all of us who own property and make us pay our taxes or get penalized for it … it’s all in fairness,” Yates said.