Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Short Term Rentals topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Saratoga Springs narrows short-term rental vendor contract, builds new licensing workflow
Summary
City officials said they are issuing rolling, one-year provisional short-term rental licenses while finishing a new portal, reduced the Granicus contract to monitoring and ID services only, and approved a $4,500 one-time change order to implement payment and records workflow with ICC CDS. Council voted unanimously on the vendor changes.
A council member overseeing short-term rental enforcement told the Saratoga Springs City Council that the city is issuing provisional, rolling one-year short-term rental (STR) licenses effective from each application date while it completes fire inspections and a new licensing portal.
The official said the city has received about 270 license applications and that roughly half appear to be owner-occupied. “We are currently issuing provisional licenses that will become full licenses pending a passed inspection,” the councilmember said, describing temporary paper intake while the online system is rebuilt.
Councillors approved Addendum 1 to the existing Granicus LLC contract to limit the vendor’s role to address identification and monitoring of listing activity. The body voted 5-0 to reduce the contract price from $50,696.45 to $18,912.60 and to keep the agreement in place through Feb. 6, 2027. A councilmember said Granicus’s identification tool remains useful even as the city discontinues the vendor’s hotline, direct mail and licensing portal modules.
To replace lost portal functionality and implement payments and record retention, the council authorized a one-time change order (about $4,500) with ICC CDS LLC for Laserfiche forms, workflow development and a payment processor; the motion passed unanimously. The councilmember said the ICC CDS change order is a short-term cost to replace recurring items removed from the previous vendor scope.
City staff said the short-term rental address-identification tool will continue in use and that public-safety personnel will triage inquiries through the police non-emergency line while the new portal integrates with city systems. Officials urged applicants who have not yet heard back to continue normal management of properties until inspections and full licenses are issued.
The council also said it is coordinating with recently enacted Saratoga County short-term rental legislation and continuing to refine licensing rules and data reporting as more information becomes available.
