Commissioners ask state for STR data access, table county purchase of discovery software

Moore County's tax administrator requested Oct. 7 that the board approve a multi‑year service agreement with NEEMO (doing business as GovOS) to identify short‑term rental (STR) properties operating in the county by scraping online listings and returning addresses for tax discovery and listing. The requested first‑year cost was $29,403.10 (including a one‑time setup fee). The county currently lists about 240 STR properties but staff estimated substantially more properties may be operating without proper business‑personal‑property listings.

Gary Briggs told commissioners the software would save county staff large amounts of time and provide documentation to support discovery and listing under state statute. He said Pinehurst had contracted with a different vendor (Granicus) for the village footprint and had shared a list; Briggs said a countywide solution was needed because the county assesses and collects for 10 of 11 municipalities under existing interlocal agreements.

Several commissioners and other speakers questioned the cost and asked whether municipalities should share the expense or if the county should instead pursue a legal enforcement path. One commissioner proposed asking the county attorney to prepare a resolution to send to the state legislature asking for mandatory reporting by STR platforms (Airbnb, VRBO and similar) and to require them to provide a list to local governments; that motion passed. Commissioners also directed staff to pause the GovOS procurement and explore municipal cooperation and legal options before proceeding.

Briggs said the company's tool would produce a list of addresses and supporting documentation, which the tax office would use to send listing forms and, if necessary, to discover property under statutory authority. Commissioners noted that expected immediate revenue from discovered listings is modest based on current records but agreed the topic merits state‑level attention and better data sharing.

The board did not approve the GovOS contract at this meeting and instead asked the county attorney to draft a resolution to seek state action and to revisit local options with municipal partners.