Santa Fe's Quality of Life Committee heard an update in October on the city's implementation of a short‑term rental compliance and tax administration system provided by NuMo (formed from Avenue Insights and partners).

City staff and NuMo presenters showed a live compliance dashboard, described how listings are collected and archived, and said the system will be used to notify operators, schedule inspections and estimate tax revenue the city may be missing. “This is the dashboard that the team … and the rest of the compliance team would have access to,” Obiora Nikwocha, a NuMo project manager, said while demonstrating the live system.

Why it matters: Committee members said the tool should allow staff to move from reactive complaint response to proactive enforcement, improve permit renewals and give the council data for policy discussions about short‑term rentals. Committee members also asked about public access, data privacy and whether the system will generate reliable tax projections.

Key points from the presentation

- Data and compliance: NuMo representatives said the platform aggregates listings from more than 80 sites and that the city’s dataset shows “about 1,000‑plus” rentals and listings in the system. Obiora Nikwocha said the vendor has flagged roughly 240 listings that do not have a city permit. Earlier in the demo staff noted the city’s initial files contained about 800–900 records and that the vendor also identified more than 300 additional listings in initial scraping.

- Compliance grade and goals: The presenters said the city’s current identification and matching score is a C+ (about 79%), with a goal to reach 90%+. Dana Braccia, NuMo project manager, and city staff said ongoing data cleaning should improve matching before the system goes live.

- Timeline and roll‑outs: Presenters said the STR module is on track for a November go‑live that aligns with the city’s permit renewal period. The city’s tax administration module will follow, with a planned rollout in February and additional work required to integrate banking (the team is coordinating with Wells Fargo).

- Public outreach: City staff announced two community sessions on Nov. 13 — a virtual meeting from 12:30–1:30 p.m. and an in‑person meeting at the Santa Fe Convention Center from 5:30–6:30 p.m. NuMo representatives said both sessions will be recorded and staff from NuMo and the city will be on site to answer questions.

- Enforcement and citizen tools: The public-facing elements described by NuMo include (1) a map of approved, permitted short‑term rentals, (2) a 24/7 complaint form and (3) a toll‑free complaint line. Councilor Adriana Castro asked, “how much information will be available to the public, because I imagine this admin screen is not what the public will see.” Obiora Nikwocha replied, “This is not what the public is gonna see. This is only available to the compliance team.”

- Payments, fees and workflow: The presenters demonstrated the constituent-facing application flow. The demo showed an initial $100 payment required before review; staff also referenced a separate inspection/payment step that they said is approximately $325. Staff said the system supports ACH and major credit cards and that records and receipts are issued automatically when payments post.

- Tax projection: City staff estimated the tool could help recover an estimated $1 million a year in uncollected tax revenue, a figure the presenters described as an early projection to be refined as data improve.

Committee reaction and next steps

Members praised the tool as a shift from reactive enforcement to a data‑driven approach. Councilor Cassey, the committee chair, and other members requested regular reports from staff as the city moves through the renewal season and enforcement actions. Staff said they will begin sending notice letters to identified noncompliant operators and that enforcement work will proceed alongside outreach and renewal windows.

A NuMo representative said staff accounts were issued to city users the week prior to the demo and that the city will provide training materials, recorded tutorials and on‑site support for staff. City staff said they will invite county partners to community sessions because some questions concern county tax classification and county‑level oversight.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to approve the agenda: Passed (roll call: Councilor Adriana Castro — yes; Councilor Faulkner — yes; Councilor Cassey — yes). The agenda reflected that Bill 2025‑21 (amending SFCC 19‑87 §28‑1.5, the living wage ordinance) had been postponed to Public Works & Utilities on Oct. 20 and will return to Quality of Life on Oct. 22; the committee did not consider the living‑wage bill at this meeting.

- Motion to approve the consent agenda: Passed (roll call: Councilor Adriana Castro — yes; Councilor Faulkner — yes; Councilor Cassey — yes).

What the presentation did not resolve

Staff and NuMo said several details still require completion: further data scrubbing to raise the matching grade, back‑end banking integration to finalize payment flows, and ongoing refinement of tax projections. Staff said those items are expected to be addressed during the months before the STR go‑live and the tax‑administration roll‑out.

Ending

City staff and NuMo said they will continue implementation work, begin outreach to operators the city has identified as potentially noncompliant, and hold the Nov. 13 public sessions. The committee scheduled its next meeting for Oct. 22, when the council will consider additional agenda items including the postponed living‑wage discussion.