Bulletin: Salida, CO News Today
Under Ordinance 2026-22, paying the annual fee will no longer be enough to keep a Salida short-term rental license; owners must rent at least 12 nights a year
Salida's $1,000 STR Renewal Now Comes With a Booking Quota
Under Ordinance 2026-22, paying the annual fee will no longer be enough to keep a Salida short-term rental license; owners must rent at least 12 nights a year
Photo by Justin Wolff on Unsplash
The City of Salida advanced an ordinance on August 4 that would strip short-term rental licenses from owners who barely rent.
Ordinance 2026-22 creates an annual "active use" condition: a licensed property must be rented for lodging at least 12 nights per year or the City Clerk will decline to renew the license at the following year's renewal.
It cleared first reading as a consent agenda item and now heads to a second reading and public hearing on September 1, 2026.
The Financial Logic
Salida funds housing partly through an occupational lodging tax of $15 per bedroom per night which is remitted quarterly and deposited into the city's Housing Fund. A license that never books produces zero lodging tax while still consuming one of the city's 309 capped slots.
Staff told council they are pulling reports to identify which licensed STRs are sitting unused and the fiscal note attached to the ordinance frames the 12-night floor as a way to lift revenue into the Housing Fund.
The Documentation Squeeze
Applicants subject to the Chaffee County residency requirement must now produce two or more of: a valid driver's license or Colorado identification card; current voter registration or valid motor vehicle registration; and documents designating a primary residence for income tax purposes.
The tax-residence document is the new element. Staff said the 2026 renewal review turned up applicants whose status as a bona fide Chaffee County resident was "either unclear or insufficiently documented."
Who Carries the Cost
The burden lands on owners who treat a license as an asset rather than an operating business. Under Salida rules, licenses are non-transferable and limited to one per property owner so a lapsed license cannot be sold and re-entry means competing for whatever remains under the zone cap.
In the residential tier, 77 of 85 slots were filled at the last published count in February 2026.
Appeal Rights
The ordinance says the Clerk must give notice of non-renewal "no less than fourteen (14) days after the submittal of the renewal application." The owner then has 7 days from the denial to appeal in writing to City Council.
Nothing in the draft specifies how the Clerk will verify night counts and that gap is likely to draw comment at the September hearing.
⦾ Status: First reading passed August 4, 2026; public hearing September 1, 2026.
⦾ Renewal fee: $1,000 annually, now paired with a 12-night rental minimum.
⦾ Initial license: $1,000 plus $200 administrative fee.
⦾ Residency proof: Two or more qualifying documents, including a tax primary-residence designation.
⦾ Residency exemption: MD and MC zones only.
⦾ Night cap: None. Salida sets a minimum, not a maximum.
⦾ Transferability: None. One license per property owner.
⦾ Penalty for unlicensed operation: Up to $2,650 per day.
⦾ Tax remittance: Operators file directly with the city through its online tax portal on a quarterly basis.
In case you missed it:
Jasmine Ruth Albatana
Jasmine Ruth Albatana
Jasmine Ruth Albatana
Social Listening 🎧: Podcast
Policy talk doesn’t just happen in the news cycle—it can also live in long-form audio. Strisker’s Podcast Signal turns hours of episodes into actionable insight, indexing transcripts so you can surface key mentions of STRs, data centers, ordinances, and local decision-makers in seconds.
Stay Updated with Strisker!
Strisker offers tools and features to keep you updated with the Short Term Rental movement (and now Data Centers!) movement across the world.
👍 We’d love your feedback.
We're always looking for ways to improve Bulletins.
Was this one useful to you? Other topics you'd like to see get covered?
✉️ Just reply directly to this email. We read and respond to every message!
-Will McClure
🙋 P.S.
Know someone else who should be reading this Bulletin? Feel free to forward this along. We want to make sure operators and stakeholders are aware of regulatory changes in their area.