Department now has a head and fine structure
Santa Claus isn’t the only one making lists and checking them twice this December. In Gilmer County Short-Term Rental Board Director Mary Abernathy is gearing up for a big finish to the year.
Gilmer County commissioners officially appointed Abernathy to her post at their regular meeting Monday, Dec. 15. They also approved tweaks to the ordinance and a fine structure for short-term rental violations.
“2025 nobody was fined,” Abernathy said. “Originally, the licenses were supposed to have been in place for all short-term rental property owners by July 1, 2025. Well, that just wasn’t even possible because there were so many property owners that couldn’t be identified and found. Now, we feel like we have found at least 90 percent of them, and they keep popping up new every day, so we know that the word is out.”
Abernathy said she is telling every owner and manager she speaks with to have their ducks in a row, because fines will be levied as of Jan. 1, 2026.
She said enforcement will follow a progressive schedule — a warning period of 30 days to correct the violation, an assessment of fine after 30 days, a doubling of the fine at 60 days and final a license suspension at 90 days.
Fines run in a three tier structure. Tier 1 and tier 2 were set up by the short-term rental board which includes two representatives from the short-term rental community.
Tier 1 violations will be a $250 fine. These include administrative and minor operational noncompliance items such as parking issues, not post licenses and emergency contact information or not delivering “good neighbor” letters to surrounding property owners.
Tier 2 violations will be $500 and include items such as exceeding occupancy limits, failure to comply with county quiet hours or disorderly conduct.
Tier 3 are individual based fines and are ordinance based such as operating without a license or failing to pay property taxes.
Operating without a license will be met with a fine of $900 plus the license fee of $300, for a total of $1,200.
Abernathy said approximately 1,600 short-term rentals are registered and she is anticipating between 1,900 and 2,000 total by the beginning of the year. She anticipates there are another 500 short-term properties yet to be discovered.
She said the GovOS application is working well. A complaint line is also monitored 24/7. The number is 762-543-5187.
Complaints of a less immediate nature can be submitted in writing, as well.
Tweaks to the ordinance mostly involve moving enforcement out of the planning and zoning department.
Other business
In other business, commissioners:
﹣ held a public hearing on the proposed 2026 budget. No one commented.
﹣ accepted the certification of the Nov. 4 election which included the county SPLOST.
﹣ adopted the final reading of the cryptocurrency and data mining ordinance which includes a ban on both within the county borders.