A look into short-term rentals in Penetanguishene prompted one council member to request if cost savings could be lessened at the expense of retaining a 24-hour complaint hotline.
Licensing of short-term rentals in Penetanguishene was implemented through a 2023 bylaw, following concerns that unlicensed home businesses could lead to various troubles.
The short-term rental licensing program update report provided an overview of the administration of the bylaw between 2023 through 2025, covering the process and revenues generated, various enforcement, feedback and more, with intent to plan for 2026.
As of the report, in 2025 there were 9 properties licensed with 7 licences in review; 2024 saw 20 licensed short-term rental properties; and 2023 noted 18 short-term rental properties with licenses. A prediction between 10 to 15 licensed operators was given for the 2026 summer season by staff.
With enforced bylaw increases over the years, staff noted a decline in unlicensed and non-compliant properties, and thus, a decrease in collected administrative monetary program funds, from nearly $39,000 in 2023 to $26,000 in 2024 and just over $10,300 by August of 2025.
Council voted in 2022 that Granicus Host Compliance would be the point of contact through which three monitoring software modules would be purchased and utilized by the municipality: a 24/7 hotline, compliance monitoring, and address identification.
However, Penetanguishene staff recognized that the address identification was inefficient with distanced updates, the compliance monitoring hadn’t been effective due to differences in what qualified as non-compliant, and the hotline had only received three complaints in 2025.
A recommendation was to cease use of Granicus software by the end of the year, saving roughly $5,000 annually heading into the 2026 budget discussions.
At the committee of the whole meeting, Coun. George Vadeboncoeur raised interest toward one aspect of the Granicus agreement which was not covered by Penetanguishene staff.
“I had some concerns when I read the recommendation to eliminate the 24-hour (Granicus) complaint telephone line,” said Vadeboncoeur, “that I thought would be – or is – a valuable service to our residents, considering we don’t offer 24-hour municipal law enforcement.”
Staff informed council that the cost to keep the after-hours hotline would be roughly a third of the three modules, but noted that a minimum package was required to purchase from the company as not all host services were applicable to Penetanguishene.
Vadeboncoeur said: “Having that hotline there is an effective way to receive the complaint and then address it initially, and for a fairly minor cost comparison to, say, having a municipal law enforcement officer respond. I think it would be worth keeping.”
An amendment was offered by Vadeboncoeur to strike the hotline aspect out of the Granicus cancellation recommendation, but discussion by Mayor Doug Rawson and staff prompted a deeper look into the contract. Council agreed to defer the matter for a future meeting.
The short-term rental licensing program update report can be located on the agenda page of the Town of Penetanguishene website.