The Town of Vail has responsibly invested $50 million in the development of 570 new community homes over the past year alone. The addition of a 6% excise tax will bring total taxes to 16.8%, which is in the middle of the pack amongst our peer mountain resort communities. STR (Short Term Rental) tax proceeds are legally-obligated, per the ballot language, TO FUND HOUSING ACTIVITIES, HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS, HOUSING PROGRAMS AND RELATED ACTIVITIES INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF THE TOWN. While increasing the supply of homes is vital, affordability is perhaps even more important. Initiatives such as interest rate buydowns, reduction in rents, reduction in sales prices, and reductions in building costs can all contribute toward more affordable housing for our residents.

Examples of possible future uses include:

• Development of Chamonix-style townhomes on CDOT parcel in East Vail
• Enhancements to Vail InDeed Program Partnerships with other communities and organizations toward down valley projects such as EagleVail parcel development
• Add environmental efficiencies to current and future housing projects (20% price increase)
• More subsidies of current and future housing projects to be closer to 100% AMI affordability

2A is not a general sales tax or property tax increase. It will only affect out of town guests who might rent a STR. 2A  does not change any allowable property uses or STR regulations and does not restrict or limit the number or location of STR licenses. 

We love our STRs as they are very important to our world-class resort community operations, and they should financially contribute to the Vail community that makes them successful. STRs require increased levels of hospitality staffing and services compared to full-time resident-occupied homes. The increased staff results in increased demand for housing. STRs are assessed for property taxes as residential compared to hotels which are assessed as commercial. The resulting property taxes are approximately 24% of commercial (6.7% vs 27.9%). STRs paying a fair share is an acknowledgment that affordable and available housing for residents and the workforce, including employees of STRs, benefit not only residents, but the broader economy, business community, overall community character, and quality of the guest experience.

In addition to maintaining and sustaining our community, community housing provides significant environmental benefits.

No. Aspen is a great comparison – since their STR tax went into effect through August 2025, occupancy has increased 1.4%.

Survey data from Economic & Planning Systems shows per unit expenditures by type for STR guests; based on this data, expenditures average $898 per unit per day, including $428 on food and beverage, $300 on retail/shopping, and $170 on entertainment and recreation.

There are 2,454 STRs in Vail. These are distributed among different types of units including locally-occupied homes, second homes, and condotels.

Data shows that the revenue associated with an inventory of 2,454 STR units, total employment approximates 3,190, given that each individual STR supports 1.3 jobs per unit, based on an average annual occupancy rate of 40 percent.

82 % of the jobs are concentrated in industries that include Retail; Accommodation/Food Services; and Entertainment/Recreation.

When the profiles of the jobs generated are evaluated based on the full range of occupations (and corresponding wages), 98% of these employee- households will earn less than 200% of AMI, thus needing some form of affordable housing support. Note that when the threshold for needing community housing support is lowered to 100 percent of AMI, the corresponding percentage of households needing support remains relatively high, with 86% requiring assistance.

The average employee-household income of the jobs driven by STR guest spending (and corresponding ability to pay for housing) yields a gap of $404,000 for each STR, or $13,500 annually based on financing terms and the life cycle of housing projects.