The island’s tourism economy may see some additional vigor after the Bainbridge Island City Council approved some policy updates regarding short-term rentals and tourism grants from the Lodging Tax fund.

At the July 23 meeting, the council agreed to streamline the registration process for short-term rentals, such as those listed on Airbnb, by moving the application online and automating the courtesy mailing requirement. The updates also establish a flat license renewal fee of $275, which remains valid for a calendar year from the date of issue, instead of defaulting to Jan 1 and prorated by month.

“We wanted a regulatory system to identify the number of short-term rentals, if they were paying appropriate taxes, and reinforce existing nuisance regulations,” said city manager Blair King. “We feel the new system is a straightforward, easy to use, online registration process that…will be as easy as possible to assist innkeepers with complying with this regulation.”

The city requires hosts and innkeepers to notify any neighboring property owners within 300 feet of their intent to operate a short-term rental business by mailing a copy of the business application and an optional personal message to the neighbor. Those notices must be sent every subsequent year that the host renews their license. Going forward, the city will now cover the cost of postage for hosts and has limited the optional personal message section from a write-your-own draft to a few preset phrases that hosts may select during the application process.

These updates will take effect Sep 30.

On the other side of the tourism economic engine, the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee — which is recruiting members — offered its input on the selection criteria for proposals for funding from the state Civic Improvement Fund.

City officials estimate that about $400,000 will be available in 2025 in grant funding for any project designed to attract tourists — festivals, special events, activities or other novelties that market the island as a destination — or cover operations costs associated with drawing tourists to Bainbridge, like marketing. Only local nonprofits and municipal entities may be eligible for funding.

The lodging tax was implemented in 2020, and revenue has steadily increased since then, said Adam Nebenzahl, management analyst for the city. However, year-end fund balances are growing at a slower rate, which may necessitate that future fund balances be “drawn down,” Nebenzahl said.

“The intention is to have stable funding for organizations so they can rely on the availability of the fund year after year. It’s not just, ‘we have more money in 2024, looking to 2025,’ we also want to have funds available for 2026 and 2027,” Nebenzahl explained.

Current code evaluates projects on several matrices of quality, including local impact, equity and inclusion, value alignment, organizational capacity and evident community need, but the LTAC suggested including some specific language in the chart for clarity.

Questions like “Does the proposal target off-season tourism?”; “Does the proposal explain how it prevents duplicating other services for BI residents?”; and “How well does the proposal align with the city’s climate and equity goals?” will all be considered during the selection process.

City councilmembers approved sending the LTAC back to the drawing board to adjust the matrix to emphasize accessibility and low-carbon footprint programs in its selection criteria.