The amendment that was passed instead requires a $200 flat fee, up from its previous $100, and additional fees based on the number of occupants a property can house.
At one point, the council entertained a $500 flat fee that drew outcry from STVR owners and management companies. The occupancy ordinance’s fee structure was discussed months before in council and budget meetings. If those are different than we'll be sending them a letter saying they'll be getting a citation plus, they'll have to pay the difference.” “It won't be real-time enforcement,” said Gillen, “The computer system will monitor what the advertised occupancy rate is, versus what they put on their application. Gillen acknowledged the ordinance change will force the city to take a more passive approach to enforcement. “It opens the door for all kinds of misuse and abuse, and it also shortchanges the city in terms of revenue," said Gay, "I'm a businessman, I'm a member of this community and I'm going to get my real numbers, but it does require extra effort and labor on the part of my company."
Residents and owners in the past have pointed to a Georgia code that prevents Tybee’s code enforcement team, which typically handles residents’ complaints, from entering a residential property to check on the number of occupants without probable cause. He favors fees based on number of bedrooms because it's "easily quantified by county records" and called the occupancy fee ordinance “unenforceable”
Keith Gay, who runs STVR management company Tybee Island Vacation Rentals, has often spoken out against the city's measured steps towards regulation. Rental moratorium: Tybee City Council enacts short-term vacation rental moratorium permits paused for 90 days On the other hand, STVR owners and management companies defend the business as crucial to the island's economy and call claims of harm exaggerated or unsubstantiated. They decry the industry as an encroachment on quality of life and the sense of community inherent in residential neighborhoods. STVRs and the visitors they attract have been a top concern among the island's permanent residents for years. However, those statistics do not necessarily reflect the number of active short-term vacation rentals, as some registered STVRs remain owner occupied. Of those, 214 were registered in the weeks ahead of the the moratorium taking effect, according to Tybee’s City Manager Shawn Gillen. Of Tybee's 2,994 housing units, 1,575 are registered STVRS.