Millions of short-term rentals—often found on sites like Airbnb and VRBO—are operating in homes across North America. What does this mean for local governments and tax assessors in particular? Without the right auditing strategy and tools, the answer is often: missing revenue.
Join our discussion with Bob Thompson, county assessor of Cook County, Minnesota and Granicus account executive, John Spuhler, to learn more about opportunities for revenue recovery, the impacts of homestead exemptions, and more.
Event Summary
Topic: Short-Term Vacation Rentals and Property Tax
Duration: 1 hour
Location: On-Demand
Speakers
Bob Thompson:
Senior Accredited Minnesota Assessor
Cook County, Minnesota Assessor (Appointed)
Five years ago, Bob left the fee appraisal industry after 13 years and moved out of the Minneapolis/St. Paul area to pursue a career in public work. After three years in the office at Cook County, he was promoted to County Assessor. Bob plans to have a long career with Cook County and someday own a lake home on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA).
Achievements:
• 2021 STR Presentation for the Wisconsin-Indianhead Association of Assessors
• 2020 STR Presentation for the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO)
• 2019 & 2020 STR Presentations for the Minnesota Association of Assessing Officers (MAAO)
Fun fact: Bob grew up with six siblings, all but one have made a career of working in property assessment for local governments.
John Spuhler:
John Spuhler is an account executive for Host Compliance at Granicus. John joined Host Compliance in February of 2019 with the merger of STR Helper, which he co-founded in 2015. John brings five years of data-driven, short-term rental compliance expertise to our customers.
He dealt firsthand with the challenges of short-term rental compliance as the Mayor of Garden City, Utah from 2010 to 2018. John has also served on numerous boards and as the chairman of The Bear River Association of Governments, a three-county association. During his tenure as a public servant, John helped provide best-practice solutions regarding short term rental policy at the state, county, and municipal levels as well as for local HOAs.