The Sedona City Council voted last week to hire a lobbyist to work on behalf of the city to help pass legislation to regulate vacation rentals.
We have been advocating for this position for most of the year, most recently in my Sept. 10 editorial [“Sedona needs new tactics in rental fight”], suggesting to various city officials that a lobbyist, working on this narrow issue for Sedona, might be able to accomplish some regulations.
Council’s vote was a “surprise,” because it wasn’t unanimous. Mayor Sandy Moriarty convinced two council members that such a lobbyist would be ineffective.
Rather than have a dedicated lobbyist, the mayor would have the city work through the League of Arizona Cities & Towns on vacation rentals, her argument being she and the league has been working on this for several years.
Inexplicably, Moriarty touts this as a victory, when her argument points to her utter failure and the complete failure of the league. They have been working on this issue for five years … to what success? Let’s review. The legislature passed:
- A bill allowing taxation — the city wins cash; residents get nothing [Senate Bill 1382]
- A bill requiring vacation rental owners to have their contact information on file — speeds up police contacting properties owners; residents get nothing [House Bill 2672]
- Limits on “party” houses — owners lose revenue; residents get nothing [also House Bill 2672, but paired with a new policy by one company, Airbnb, but not others]
Not surprisingly, this legislation was written by the short-term rental companies’ lobbyists so they could claim “regulation” but not rectify one iota of the horrendous damage vacation rentals have done to residential neighborhoods in Sedona and other small towns with limited housing markets.
If this is what Moriarty calls “success” — Sedona needs to hire 20 lobbyists.
The League has 91 members, including Scottsdale, Tucson, Tempe, Phoenix, Flagstaff and Prescott, all of whom have populations, pocketbooks and interests that dwarf tiny Sedona. The 90 other towns don’t care what Sedona’s priorities are — they have their own.
The mayor also falsely claimed that if Sedona hires its own lobbyist, the league’s lobbyists won’t work for us. Our lobbyist could work with the league’s in tandem to tag team key legislators. They can work together. “Working together” might come as a shock to our mayor — who shut down businesses and forcefully dis-employed their workers without discussing her actions with council — but “teamwork” accomplishes things. Sedona’s lobbyist is a force multiplier, not a replacement.
Moriarty also claims a lobbyist will not be able to accomplish anything. A “paltry” $75,000 focused on one topic can work wonders at the legislature. It’s how Senate Bill 1350 got passed in the first place. The vast majority of legislators who passed SB 1350 in 2015 had no interest in vacation rentals and no knowledge of the industry. Like most bills, they passed it because their lobbyists and staffers told them this bill wouldn’t cost votes and might generate campaign cash.
To get regulations or bans on vacation rentals passed, lobbyists need to convince legislators that they could campaign on the fact that they drafted laws, repealed SB 1350 or regulated vacation rental law to benefit their voters. If Sedona doesn’t get a return on its investment, it only means we hired the wrong lobbyist.
Opponents claim bills cannot be changed and vacation rentals are permanent, but that also is not true. A bill supported by legislators could re-ban vacation rentals in residential areas, “grandfathered” or not. Ten years ago, recreational marijuana was illegal and same-sex marriage was banned by our state constitution. Laws change. Vacation rentals are not sacred cows.
Moriarty’s chief objection is, “I am the one who has been the closest to this issue and has worked on it since 2016.” Yet she has nothing to show for it, so this has less to do with what’s best for Sedona or its residents, and more about legacy. We cannot govern based on ego as the mayor before her learned. Those legacies expire. Real legacies are written by the people, not the politicians.
Moriarty claimed, “That $75,000 could do something important in this city. It would mean something to somebody.”
We concur: $75,000 could do a lot. The city of Sedona’s budget increased by $20.4 million last year — in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, and $75,000 is 0.366% of that. So help us: Disperse that largesse to those of us who have seen our rents skyrocket in the last year, so we can pay our bills and landlords.
Council and the city rake in tourist taxes built on the backs of its workers who can no longer afford to live here.
Council, if you oppose the integrity of neighborhoods and spit on workers, leave office, you are no longer helpful.
You are not benefiting us.
You are in the way.
Move.
Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
Senate Bill 1350 legalized vacation rentals in 2016. The vote was bipartisan, opposed by five Republican legislators and one Republican senator.
Senate Bill 1382 allowed cities and towns to collect taxes on vacation rentals.
House Bill 2672 limited “party houses” and required owners to have contact information on file with local law enforcement.
