Rent your Brigantine home to summer vacationers? Get ready to write a check for $100 to the City of Brigantine for that privilege.
On March 15, Brigantine City Council introduced an ordinance that requires homeowner that rent properties for less than 175 days, acquire short-term rental license.
This idea came from the on-again off-again Brigantine economic development committee. Oddly, this committee is primarily made up and controlled by Mayor Phil Guenther & Councilman Andy Simpson.
How will this money be used? Brigantine city manager Ed Stinson doesn’t have an answer to that one yet. In the meantime, your $100 will be put into a general fund.
This raised the ire of many Brigantine second homeowners, they saw it as an anti-second homeowner tax.
Adding insult to injury, the Mayor, along with the City Manager, are asking us to fork over $100 for something that is still undecided.
Brigantine Mayor Phil Guenther, also in charge of the Brigantine School Board and Mayor for past 27 years, said the tax would allow Brigantine to market the island and create a tourism plan.
Brigantine tourism and marketing has been discussion for the past 10 years. Few plans or execution ever succeeded in being put into place. Others have suggested that funneling these rental tax dollars to the Chamber of Commerce is akin to flushing money down the you know what.
The Chamber of Commerce in Brigantine has been accused, more than once, of poor accountability. Many Chamber events are typically targeted to full-time homeowners in the off-season, something the majority of Brigantine taxpayers (second homeowners) never get to benefit from.
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Whether a second homeowner or a full-time one, if you earn income on renting out your home, you Should be taxed. This is called business. And $100 per season is ridiculously low that once again, this city is missing out on said luxury tax as compared to other beach towns. Agreed that there should be a plan as to where this money goes which hopefully is not into the deep pockets of the mayor and his squad.