BEND, OR -- County Commissioners are not ready to require licensing for short-term rentals in unincorporated Deschutes County. They considered either creating a stand-alone business license, or wrap licensing with land-use permitting. 

Community Development Director Peter Gutowsky told commissioners Wednesday it would create extra challenges for his department, “I have real resource limitations and to administer a short-term rental program with or without a land use component still creates demands for my staff to ensure at a minimum fire and life safety is addressed,”

He said there are currently only three code enforcement officers, “We have four positions in our budget right now. We're recruiting for a fourth as we speak. We are very mindful of our budget right now.” There are more than 800 short-term rentals under the county’s jurisdiction.

Licensing would bring revenue into the county and provide health and safety standards.

Chair Patti Adair said she’s not ready for a decision, “At this point in time, people are so being burdened with this tax and that tax and this tax, I'm sure the businesses will look at it as a tax and we're already getting the revenue. I would honestly like to watch it for a couple of months and say, ‘ok, what kind of problems are we really talking about?’.”

Commissioner Phil Chang wants to keep exploring, “We don't have to load it up with requirements that aren't really critical to preserving public health and safety and the peace of the neighborhood. But we're not going to get at those things without having some kind of a program.”

Establishing a business license program could cost the county up to $1-million.

File Photo: Central Oregon Rental Vacation Home