Heather Wright/The Independent

Plympton-Wyoming Councillor John Van Klaveren is wondering if the one-year-old Short Term Rental licensing is worth it.

Since the 2022 municipal election, the council has been working on a bylaw after complaints from residents about loud parties and parking problems from the rentals. The bylaw has been in effect for a year now.

Lisa Smeekens, Deputy Clerk in a report to council says as of May 4, there are 30 short term rentals licenced in the community with one more in the works. There are eight rentals which have not been registered and Smeekens says bylaw enforcement is likely to lay charges against them in the coming weeks.

Since the hotline opened, Smeekens says only one complaint has been received.

So far, $11,000 in revenue has been collected. The cost for the software to run the licensing program costs over $7,100.

Van Klaveren wondered out loud whether the program is worth the cost.

“Obviously there’s not any money to be made,” he told councillors May 13. “It says here that we collected about $11,000 fees, but the cost for the software is $7,000 and we’re not sure what cost of staff is, so it’s a break even at very best.”

CAO Adam Sobanski agreed. “If you include staff time, we are certainly in a deficit above and beyond the revenue. As things get in line better, everyone who’s going to get one license gets a license, I would suggest that it would probably be a break even at extreme best,” he said.

Van Klaveren also pointed out the municipality originally suggested there was about 60 short-term rentals but only 30 have been licence.

“There’s been some shrinkage there or, as usual, some have gone underground, potentially, because there are fewer out there – there’s 30 that are licensed.”

Van Klaveren, who was consistently against the licensing bylaw, says council should look at it again saying he believes it is stifling business.

“I still really believe that we’re leaving a lot of money on the table for these dynamite little enterprises, and we’re not just shortchanging those risk takers and hard workers and entrepreneurs, we’re shortchanging our whole municipality.”