AUGUSTA, Ga. — Augusta residents who rent out homes to visitors are pushing back against a draft zoning ordinance that would sharply shrink where short-term rentals are allowed, and they want residents to know the stays are already taxed.
Under the draft as it now reads, short-term rentals would be permitted only in agricultural zones and in small pockets downtown and in the medical district. Homes in neighborhoods would be off the table.
Hosts filled the seats last week when city planners took up permits, registration and the zoning draft. A new alliance of rental operators has formed to press its case, and members say the 8% Richmond County hotel tax shows up on guest bills on booking platforms and through the Masters Housing Bureau.
The rate itself is new. State lawmakers approved House Bill 498 last year at the request of the Augusta Commission, lifting the hotel tax from 6% to 8%. Operators were notified of the tax in an Aug. 28 memo.
How much rental hosts add to the pot is unclear. The city budget shows $8.6 million in the hotel tax fund for 2024, collected at the old 6% rate, but it does not separate short-term rentals from hotels.
Any final rule would go before the Augusta Commission, made up of the mayor and ten commissioners elected from eight single-member districts and two at-large super-districts. The planning and development director has said the department is still gathering information and the requirements are not final.
Public comment on the draft zoning change is open online through the end of October.
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