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Letter to the editor: Short-term rental restrictions will harm the local economy

Martha Carver
Breckenridge and Parker

My husband and I have owned condos in Breckenridge for the past 28 years. Currently, we own two, which have been equally divided between long-term and short-term rentals over the years.

The town of Breckenridge has drastically increased the license fees for short-term rentals in an attempt to increase the number of long-term rentals. For a two-bedroom condo, the license cost $160 in 2021 and $800 in 2022, with an increase to $1,500 next year. Breckenridge has also capped and decreased the number of licenses available.

Punishing short-term rental owners is not the way to increase the number of long-term rentals. Some owners, like us, live in Colorado and use the condos occasionally for our personal use. Therefore, those owners will not switch their condos to long-term rentals. Increasing the fees will only cause us to raise our rent or else lose income we were planning for retirement.



In addition to not affecting the long-term rental market, the increased fees and cap on licenses are detrimental to the local economy. Most of the short-term rentals are managed by local businesses, which employ locals, thus keeping the money in the town of Breckenridge. The effect will be to drive out the locally owned businesses and transfer the money to large, out-of-town corporations, such as Vail Resorts, which is exempt from these changes. For a community that has always prided itself with the hometown mom-and-pop style of businesses, I find it unconscionable to establish laws that favor the big corporations while driving out small, locally owned businesses.

I ask the Breckenridge Town Council to reconsider these changes in order to prevent the negative impact on the local economy. They should not implement restrictions to the vacation rental industry, which plays a vital role in supporting the community.




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