Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net
During prior discussions of Airbnb’s in OG, we learned that the practice of short term rentals is alive and well in the Grove with over 200 listings. We also learned that many of those who live near such rental units are unhappy because those renters don’t often consider the welfare of those who actually live in those neighborhoods. There is the perception that the quality of life around such rental units may be compromised due to noise, lack of consideration of neighborhood residents, ignorance of Grovarian customs, carelessness with garbage, parking glut, and parties with crowding.
Here is the latest from the Township. It is from the minutes of their meeting on February 10, 2020: Mayor Lane presiding.
The Committee discussed the hotel/motel occupancy tax. Ms. Rizzo suggested that the focus for now be on the hotels and motels with the Airbnb’s being considered at a later time. The bulk of the revenue would come from about nine hotels in the Township. Mr. Williams stated that he spoke to the NJ Division on Taxation and they clarified that this tax is referred to as an occupancy tax and not a hospitality tax.
Dr. Brantley asked why the Airbnb’s are not being considered now.
Mr. Gadaleta stated that a meeting is being set up to discuss how to identify Airbnb’s so that the tax could be charged. Mr. Anthony added that keeping up with the inspections and identification of Airbnb’s will be more of a challenge. Mr. Williams stated that the problem with doing just the hotels and motels is that the Committee would be imposing an additional tax on the people who doing things properly in terms of inspections and registration. There was discussion on whether or not this is an additional tax or merely a collection of tax by the Township that is already being paid to the state.
Mr. Gadaleta will prepare a report to clarify some of the questions about the tax.
During the public portion of the meeting, no one in the audience had anything to say about this topic.
Feel free to use the Blogfinger comments section to talk about this subject. There is nowhere else that such an open dialogue can take place. Where are the hotels, B&B’s, etc. on this topic? Don’t they have a voice? They are not listed on the OG Chamber of Commerce members list.
Here is a link to a 2018 poll which we ran on Blogfinger about citizen opinions regarding Airbnb’s in town:
There are other BF articles on this subject. Just do a search in the box at the upper right corner of our home page. Type in “airbnb”
EDITORIAL NOTE: This topic is about more than just Airbnb’s. The Township, it seems, cares only about the revenue to be derived from Ocean Grove. It is the old “cash cow” syndrome. They don’t give a damn about the quality of life of those residents who live here.
You can tell from their choice of topics relative to the Airbnb issue, which is about much more than taxes. These Neptuners are shameless in the way that they ignore the people of the Grove.
LEON REDBONE “Reaching for Someone and Not Finding Anyone There.”