Marin approved a $600 fee for licensing a short-term rental under a new rate structure it will implement this fall, but it will only charge half that amount for people who host guests in their primary residence.

The Board of Supervisors approved the fees on Tuesday under the new S.T.R. rules they adopted in May, which capped the number of vacation rentals in unincorporated Marin for the first time. The two-tiered fee system is intended to ease the burden on lower-income homeowners.

“This form of S.T.R., where an operator is renting out a portion of their full-time home or getting additional income when they are away temporarily, can support a property owner in need of extra income,” planning staff wrote in a memo to the supervisors. “While property is a significant asset, it is not unusual for longtime property owners in Marin to have limited income and substantial property maintenance expenses.”

The county spent over a year hammering out the new regulations, holding a series of contentious community meetings and hearings. During those sessions, both supporters and opponents of limits on S.T.R.s argued that local owners who rented rooms in their homes should be exempted from caps. Many said they needed the money to cover their mortgages and retirement expenses.

The new rules are expected to take effect sometime this fall. 

Under the previous regulations, S.T.R. operators were required to get a $45 business license from the county’s Department of Finance and register to pay the county’s transient occupancy tax. They will still need to pay that fee each year moving forward. They will also need to renew their S.T.R. license with the Community Development Agency every two years. The license renewal fee will be $150 for those who operate an S.T.R. from their primary residence and $300 for everyone else.

Under the new rules, homeowners will be required to certify that their septic system has been inspected and meets county health standards. Supervisors rejected a staff proposal that would have added $250 to the $600 license fee to compensate the Environmental Health Services division for reviewing those inspections. Instead, they will be covered by the county’s general fund.

The license fees will be used in part to fund a new S.T.R. program coordinator position that supervisors approved on Tuesday.

The county adopted the new rules for vacation rentals just before the expiration of a two-year moratorium that had been imposed in May 2022. Officials had feared that too many long-term rentals were being converted to S.T.R.s, reducing the year-round housing supply, driving up prices and forcing more of the coastal workforce to commute from inland areas.

The new regulations impose caps that vary by village, resulting in modest, eventual drops in most West Marin communities. The cuts range from 4 percent in Marshall to 14 percent in Bolinas. But an increase in the limit for Dillon Beach would lead to an overall rise in the total percentage of West Marin homes used as S.T.R.s from 16 percent to 18 percent of the total housing stock. 

Affordable housing advocates had argued that that number was still far too high for sustainable communities on the coast, saying longtime residents have been forced to leave due to the shortage of year-round rentals. Opponents of the caps argued that the county had provided no data to show that S.T.R.s were to blame for those trends.

Under the new ordinance, a property owner is eligible for only one license, a move the county hoped would discourage corporations from buying up houses and dominating the marketplace. All homeowners who now operate S.T.R.s will be eligible for licenses under the new system, provided they can document that their septic system is up to code. If the number of applicants exceeds the space available under the caps, licenses will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis. In villages where the caps are filled, applicants for new licenses can join a waitlist for $50 a year.