Return proposal to city staff

Dear Editor:

I urge Kelowna city council to vote against the zoning and regulatory changes for short-term rentals and return the proposal to staff for collaboration and consultation with the stakeholders.

In 2017, seniors made up 21 per cent of the Kelowna population. Air BnB’s own stats show that seniors are the largest host demographic in Canada. The average Air BnB host earns $5,600 making them a micro-business. The proposed $345 license fee, which equates to 6.2 per cent of the gross earnings, means these senior-owned micro-businesses could be out of business.

The city is proposing a 4.4 per cent property tax increase for 2019, which, if approved, will be a cumulative 20 per cent tax increase over the last five years. So now you want to charge $345 for a license that will put hundreds of senior owned micro-businesses out of business so they no longer have a little bit of extra income to pay the tax increases or a little bit left over to spend in businesses which in turn pay wages to staff. This makes no economic sense.

The enforcement and compliance costs of over $70,000 (US) are way out of proportion to the need. We are not cannabis! We know we need to pay a business licence fee. You would have better compliance charging a lower fee than charging a higher fee.

Why would the staff even think there’s a compliance problem when the stakeholders and results from the city conducted survey told them they agreed with a business license? The $27.50 that regular Bed and Breakfast folks pay makes sense. I’ll be first in line to buy it!

The most important point of all is the city already admits it’s going to be a contentious issue for the public hearing. Issues like this get local, national and international press. Do you really want the negative publicity at a time when guests are starting to plan their vacations? Do you really want Kelowna lose millions of tourism dollars from the Air BnB guests and thousands of dollars for the affordable housing project through the three per cent tax by approving the zoning and regulatory changes?

Please, think about the hundreds of seniors whose microbusiness will be out of business with the huge business license fee.

Return the proposal to staff and this time have them collaborate rather than dictate in the stakeholder meetings. Marilyn Strong

Kelowna