At its May 28, 2024 regular session, Greater Napanee council received an update from staff on Short Term Accommodations (STA). As part of that update staff indicated that almost 70 per cent of communities in Greater Napanee’s size range do not license STAs. Moreover, a number of municipalities that currently have such by-laws in place are considering dropping them. The main reason for this change in policy is an acknowledgement that the scope of the problem, if any, does not justify the time and cost needed for enforcement.
Noise complaints, the most frequently raised concern regarding STAs, is a non-problem for Greater Napanee which only has two such complaints on record. More importantly, according to the staff’s own findings, the total volume of STA related complaints reported remains extremely low. However, once in place, cost becomes a major issue for the town because compliance rates without enforcement are low, normally run between five to 20 per cent of total STR numbers.
This low compliance rate is due to the fact that most owners view these bylaws as punitive and little more then a money grab by cash hungry governments. Moreover, municipalities begin to face pressure from compliant STA owners to crack down on the non-compliant ones. As it is very easy to sidestep these regulations, enforcing them is difficult and ends up costing far more time and money then initially anticipated.
The town’s staff report, acknowledges this specific issue, it states, “any licensing program will require an investment in staff resources to manage and is unlikely to generate enough revenue to break even on costs.” This statement is backed up by the experience of other communities. For example, in August 2023, Kingston council received an update on its new licensing and regulation program of short-term rentals. It was told it was costing the city about three times as much to administrator the program then could be generated in revenue.
Despite compelling evidence that STAs are not a problem in Greater Napanee, Council is still moving forward with this effort as they spend more taxpayers’ money trying to fix a problem that does not exist. The question is why?
Tony Balasevicius
Greater Napanee