WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, OHIO — The Fayette County Commissioners met on Monday, Sept. 9. One of the items on the agenda was the bid opening for the Reid Road Bridge replacement.
Fayette County Engineer Jason Little and Katey Schleich, county engineer’s office administrative assistant, were there to open the electronic bids received. The engineer’s estimate for the job was $1,237,769.
Of the five bids received, they ranged from $1,032,993 to $1,319,226.79. The engineer’s office will now review each bid package for compliance to the bid request and award the job when the review is complete, according to Little.
Rod List, director of the Fayette County EMS District, gave his monthly report to the commissioners. There were a total of 426 runs in August, making a total of 3,193 for this year. All patients were transported to Adena Fayette Medical Center’s emergency room, with three helicopter transports reported.
The average dispatch time was one and one-half minute from the time-of-call, the average response time in the county was six and one-half minutes, and the total on-scene time averaged out at about 12 minutes each.
Fayette County Auditor Brenda Mossbarger talked to the commissioners about the current “bed tax,” which is paid by hotels and motels for temporary sleeping accommodations in the county.
The county was notified by the Ohio legislature of a pending change to the Ohio Revised Code regarding transient guests. The ORC defines “sleeping accommodations” as an individual room set aside for the purposes of sleeping, such as a cabin, house, or any other stand-alone structure which can be used for sleeping if it is rented in its entirety. Five or more such rooms, occupied and rented separately, each will be considered an individual sleeping accommodation.
The ORC defines “transient guests” as “any individual customers or entities that rent a sleeping accommodation for less than 30 consecutive days. A transient guest can include a corporation or other entity that rents blocks of rooms in its own name for use by its employees or designated guests.”
Airbnb’s are now being considered as taxable for the 3% bed tax and sales tax that is collected from hotels and motels pursuant to the Ohio Department of Taxation. It was stated that the commissioners may need to sign a resolution to this effect if the legislature passes this ORC change.
The owners of local Airbnbs would be responsible for reporting to the auditor’s office their collection of bed tax and sales tax on transient guests or face future penalties, according to the proposed changes.
This matter will come back before the commissioners when and if the legislature passes said changes which will affect Fayette County.
