La Plata County will continue collecting lodgers tax revenue from rentals within Bayfield’s boundaries after voters on Tuesday rejected a proposal for the town to impose its own tax.
By 9 p.m., the measure’s defeat appeared likely, with 53% of voters rejecting it.
Ballot measure 2A asked Bayfield residents to approve a 4% lodging tax on short-term rentals, projected to raise about $20,000 annually for affordable housing and economic development projects.
Bayfield residents already pay a lodgers tax but it is collected by La Plata County, not the town, said Town Manager John Waters. He described the proposal as essentially “a change in the location of collection.” If approved, the tax revenue generated from rentals within Bayfield would have shifted from the county to the town.
Under Colorado law, counties cannot collect lodgers tax within municipalities that have enacted their own. In other words, a county and municipal lodgers tax cannot be stacked – it’s one or the other.
Waters said the proposal was “simply going to allow the town to collect the lodgers tax within its corporate boundaries.”
Unless the results shift dramatically, La Plata County will continue collecting its 2% lodgers tax – the maximum rate allowed by state law.
jbowman@durangoherald.com
