Monroe County has become the first of the major counties in upstate New York to opt out of creating a registry system for short-term rentals like Airbnb and VRBO.
The Monroe County Legislature voted Tuesday evening to opt out of creating a registry. The bipartisan measure passed 21-8.
Short-term rentals have been a growing business and concern in neighborhoods across Monroe County. AirbnB claims to have 740 active hosts in Monroe County. Communities including the town of Irondequoit and the village of Pittsford have sought to regulate or track those properties in various ways. Monroe County, meanwhile, is negotiating with Airbnb and VRBO for those platforms to begin voluntarily providing a list of properties by ZIP code and the number of nights they rent.
The state measure is more stringent, with penalties and other regulations.
Proponents of the opt out noted that it buys more time for the county to review the pros and cons of creating a registry. While counties cannot opt out after already voting to opt in, they can vote to opt in at any point in the future.
Opponents, however, noted the short timeframe the Legislature had to review the proposal, and how the bill to opt out seemed to have been born.
“It’s very clear who the administration favored in this deal, and it wasn’t the public,” said County Legislator Rachel Barnhart, D-Rochester. “We need a registry...We need it because we need data, we need to know what’s going on.”
Barnhart is a frequent critic of County Executive Adam Bello. About three hours prior to the meeting, the administration responded to Barnhart’s request for prior communication about the opt out, releasing a series of email exchanges between county officials and Ostroff Associates, the lobbying firm that represents Airbnb. The senior vice president of Ostroff Associates is Nicholas Morelle, the son of Congressman Joe Morelle, D-Irondequoit,a close ally and mentor to Bello.
The emails show that Nicholas Morelle provided the county with draft language for an opt-out billon May 1.
“Lobbying is normal; lobbying is legal, and is highly regulated,” Barnhart said. “What makes this situation unusual is the family ties here. That’s not okay, because while they had months and months to craft this legislation, my constituents had one night.”
New York state adopted a short-term rental law in 2024, to both tax and regulate the businesses. The registry provides an enforcement and transparency mechanism. Counties have until the end of this month to opt out. The registry system is widely supported by government organizations, including the New York State Tourism Industry Association and the New York State Association of Counties.
“A registry would provide counties with address locations, lengths of stay, and the number of guests staying in your community,” a statement from the New York State Association of Counties reads. “This maybe helpful in understanding the existing housing landscape and how your economic development and planning office can assist local municipalities in land use activity.”
About 80% of Airbnb’s 740 active hosts have only one unit registered, according to an email Nicholas Morelle sent to the administration.
While Monroe County does not track what specific units are short-term rentals, it does have a voluntary agreement with Airbnb to make hotel/motel tax payments to the county. Monroe County has a 6% motel tax, which could still be collected whether it opts in or out of creating a registry. Sales tax collection would not be affected by the decision to opt in or out.
Airbnb has been remitting an occupancy taxpayment to the county since 2018, officials said. More than $5 million in total, according to the county. Records provided in response to WXXI News’ questions showed Airbnb has paid the county nearly $1.2 million last year, and more than $880,000 through September of this year. VRBO only began making payments in March, and has paid more than $48,000 through September, records show.
It is unclear what, if any, tax collection implications the county would see if it chose to opt in. Bello spokesperson Steve Barz said doing so was considered possibly jeopardizing the agreement it already has with Airbnb.
“There is a risk of Airbnb terminating our (voluntary collecting agreement) if they were to disagree with Monroe County opting-in to the state law, if that was the direction that was taken,” Barz wrote in response to questions from WXXI News. “That would result in Monroe County becoming responsible for trying to collect hotel/motel tax.”
On East Main Street, Debbi Keller, head of the North Winton Village Association, sits at the round desk of the association’s office. The office sits at the intersection of Illinois Street. In 2022, an Airbnb on that street played host to a mass shooting which left one man dead and four wounded.
Keller said that a registry could, at the least, serve as a way of knowing where Airbnbs are and keeping the system accountable.
“It comes up at our monthly meetings over, and over, and over again,” Keller said. “They need to be regulated. Are there fire extinguishers? Are there smoke detectors? Is the bedding up to code, with bed bugs? Are they taking over city blocks?”
On Tuesday night, a couple dozen Monroe County residents came to the Legislature to speak before the vote. Almost all were in favor of opting in.
The reasons ranged from a need for better data, to fear of a worsening housing situation fueled by simply not knowing how many units in the county were being used as short-term rentals.
“Requiring property owners to register their units with the county is just a basic tool of governance, and it also happens to be a really fair way to enforce market competition,” said Sean Waddington, a Perinton resident who spoke at the meeting. “It levels the playing field.”
Kelly Cheatle, a longtime housing advocate and legislative aid to Rochester City Councilmember Mary Lupien, described not opting in as showing deference to Airbnb.
“We are in a housing crisis, and we cannot solve a problem that you refuse to count,” Cheatle said.
Those voting against the opt out predominately represented the city of Rochester. All were Democrats, except for Republican Legislators Virginia McIntyre of Gates and Tom Sinclair of Greece.
Includes reporting from WXXI Investigations Editor Brian Sharp.
