La Junta ordinance would require short-term-rental registration, tax collection

La Junta has posted an ordinance that would require short-term-rental hosts and booking or payment platforms to register with the city and make platforms collect and remit lodging taxes on stays shorter than 30 consecutive days. The ordinance says it was adopted on second reading Aug. 3, 2026, and would take effect that day after final passage and legally required publication.

Host registration would be free. Hosts would provide contact information and remain responsible for other local requirements; platforms also would register and provide contact information. A platform would collect the tax when a guest books or pays, whichever comes first, then file regular returns and give the city summary data on nights rented, guest payments and taxes collected and remitted.

The ordinance does not identify an administering city office, set a registration deadline or specify the frequency, deadline or format of returns. It refers instead to the city’s existing tax-remittance schedule and procedures under Chapter 3.15 of the municipal code. A platform with a voluntary collection agreement with the Colorado Department of Revenue could be treated as compliant only if La Junta participates in the state program and the taxes are sent to the state for the city.

Platforms would be designated taxpayers and jointly and severally liable with hosts for failures to collect or remit the tax. Noncompliance could lead to registration revocation, fines of up to $1,000 per violation and other legal enforcement. The ordinance does not specify the lodging-tax rate or an audit or notice process.

The city’s available records do not establish how many hosts or platforms would be affected. A January City Council packet reported 24 short-term rentals, up from two in 2016, and cited an estimated $17,000 in revenue. The January packet does not define whether 24 refers to hosts, properties or active listings, or explain whether the $17,000 is lodging-tax revenue or how it was calculated.

The ordinance names Airbnb and VRBO as examples of platforms, but the records do not count platforms operating in La Junta or include public responses from local hosts, Airbnb, VRBO or an industry group.

At the council’s July 20 meeting, the first-reading vote passed 7-0. City Attorney Clay Buchner described platform collection and remittance as necessary to collect the tax. Tourism Director Denahy said the Tourism Board proposed the amendment after an earlier registration-and-licensing measure failed. The July 20 meeting record does not provide the second-reading vote tally.