Saratoga Springs City officials said the city will activate an online portal next week to register short-term rentals and begin collecting a newly authorized user fee, while sales tax on short-term-rental activity is already being collected.

City staff said an initial mailing of about 1,100 letters went to properties the city identified on listing services. Officials said the letters are intended to prompt owners who are not actually renting to remove listings; the city’s local law applies if a property is “offered to rent.” Staff said there is an observed 7–8% gap between listing activity and what the city has been able to match to parcels, and that figure should decline as the data are reconciled.

Officials said the state law requires listing services to provide rental information to the state and that sales tax collections began in March. The city said no occupancy tax is currently being collected because of a carve‑out in Saratoga Springs that the city has asked the state to address.

City staff described the fee collection vendor and timing: the portal’s payments will be processed through Stripe, and the fee for collection is charged to the user rather than the city. The city expects roughly 78% of registrants to complete registration within the first two months and said it will send follow‑up notices at 90, 60 and 30 days before enforcement begins in January; the civil penalty cited by staff for violations is $700, compared with a larger $2,500 fine that applies under other circumstances.

The council discussed inspections and enforcement sequencing. Fire inspections are annual under state fire code; city staff said Chief Dolan intends to prioritize inspections of nonprimary residences. The city will provide data files (CSV) to Fire/DPW staff for prioritization and tracking. Staff also said some early applicant categories will be processed manually so the city can test workflows before full rollout.

City staff confirmed the initial registration will cover the remainder of the current licensing year; registrations granted now will be valid through May 2026, with renewals beginning in June 2026. Staff noted the first registration is more labor‑intensive than annual renewals.

Officials said they will post FAQs on the city’s Facebook page, host evening office hours to assist applicants and continue direct mailings when the portal goes live.

No formal vote was recorded in the public meeting; the council’s discussion centered on implementation steps, outreach and interdepartmental workflow.