Thread: Your State Association and Lobbying

In states throughout the union, there has been a concerted effort to try to reform and update lien statutes to make them more cost-effective for operators and just more sensible all around. For example ...

• Why is certified mail a required notification method, when registered mail or an e-mail (if the tenant chooses) could work just as well?

• Why must lien auctions be advertised in newspapers, when they could be advertised in other places for less cost but just as much readership?

• Why would self-storage be subject to a special, separate sales tax? Is there any compelling reason to punish self-storage consumers and operators (who inevitably bear some of the burden of the tax)?

• Why is a state government (Idaho) allowed to set up a self-storage business to compete with the private sector?

Trying to get answers to these questions--and then pushing to reform laws that don't make sense--are the key roles of state associations.

Notable states that have in the past year succeeded in updating their lien laws (please add to the list if I missed one):
Kansas
Rhode Island
Florida
Maine
Illinois
Texas
Nevada

Notable states in the works:
Connecticut
Ohio

Then, of course, there's the situation in California from last July, where 2010 legislation to ease burdens on operators was reversed.

So, my question to you: What is your state association doing to help? What are its objectives and its next big lobbying push? Which issues will be easy to get legislative support, and which ones will be uphill battles? Let's get some discussion going on this so that we're privy to what's going on in other states. It's also especially important for multi-state operators.

Here in Ohio we have just started an association in the past year and are having the first annual Conference in October. It looks like the main focus for the Ohio SSA is to update the lien laws. While that is all fine and good, I would prefer the sales tax be the primairy focus. I don't have much of a problem with the lien laws the way they are, basically they are trying to make it cheaper to advertise the sale and get rid of certified mailings. That would be nice, but those are not too big of a problem to me, the sales tax is the big issue. I have to be honest here, I feel the national SSA really droped the ball on the sales tax for every state years ago, they should have been all over it when it first came out, be proactive and not let it pass rather than try to repeal the tax now.

Originally Posted by MZC&D

Here in Ohio we have just started an association in the past year and are having the first annual Conference in October. It looks like the main focus for the Ohio SSA is to update the lien laws. While that is all fine and good, I would prefer the sales tax be the primairy focus. I don't have much of a problem with the lien laws the way they are, basically they are trying to make it cheaper to advertise the sale and get rid of certified mailings. That would be nice, but those are not too big of a problem to me, the sales tax is the big issue. I have to be honest here, I feel the national SSA really droped the ball on the sales tax for every state years ago, they should have been all over it when it first came out, be proactive and not let it pass rather than try to repeal the tax now.

Thanks for the response, MZC&D. Do you have any details on that conference? Does the Ohio association have a website?

The ohio ssa conference is on Friday, October 19, 2012 from 10am - 3:30 pm at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Convention center Columbus, ohio. Their website is www.ohiossa.org. This is a new association but a much needed one in my opinion.

Originally Posted by MZC&D

The ohio ssa conference is on Friday, October 19, 2012 from 10am - 3:30 pm at the Ramada Plaza Hotel and Convention center Columbus, ohio. Their website is www.ohiossa.org. This is a new association but a much needed one in my opinion.

Thanks, MZC&D. I added this to the ISS events calendar. http://www.insideselfstorage.com/Events.aspx

FYI association folks, we try to keep our events calendar as up-to-date as we can with your meetings. Make sure you're sending all notices and announcements to storagenews@vpico.com.

Thanks, MZC&D! I am located in Trenton, Ohio and I did not know about this new association.

Thank You!

Here is an item that I would like to see pushed:

Change the real estate tax rate on our facilities from the commercial tax rate to residential. Our county charges 39% on commercial and 19% on residential. That would lower our taxes by half.

Here is the logic. When I own rental houses and or aprartments, my tax rate is considered RESIDENTIAL.

What we do is rent GARAGES. We DO NOT run a business in those spaces. Our renters store their stuff. Just like their own garages.

When I bought my facility, the real estate taxes on a 345 unit facility (50K sq ft, non-climate controlled) was $1,000 A WEEK. I live in a smaller town next to Kansas City, MISSOURI. $51,000+ per year.