County officials revise short-term rental estimates after data cleanup; safety concerns drive inspection plan

County officials told the PH&P Committee that initial revenue projections tied to short-term rental licensing were overstated after data-cleaning and closer work with vendor Granicus.

DHCA staff described a process in which earlier estimates (including an Office of Inspector General review and HHS contractor data) significantly overstated the number of short-term rental units. After revising and cleaning the data, DHCA staff said the universe is closer to 700 units per year and that current licensing reached the mid-300s, with a projection of over 400 licenses next year. Finance staff acknowledged a technical double-counting error last year that contributed roughly $1.3 million to an overstated multifamily/short-term rental revenue estimate; despite that, collections for multifamily licensing rose by about $500,000 year-over-year.

Committee members pressed DHCA on enforcement and public-safety implications. Chair Friedson recounted a recent fatal fire outside the county to underscore life-and-safety stakes and noted the state recently enacted a short-term rental fire-safety law that places inspection responsibilities on counties. DHCA said inspections will be complaint-driven initially but that two existing code-enforcement staff could handle the expected inspection load for roughly 700 short-term rental units over a year; members asked for follow-up on operational implementation and staffing implications.

Next steps: DHCA will return with refined projections, enforcement plans and a timeline showing when additional inspection or licensing resources may be needed.