CAPE MAY – At the Aug. 19 meeting of the City Council, City Manager Paul Dietrich said the city was preparing to enter into the enforcement phase of its crackdown on short-term rental sites that have not obtained the required mercantile license.

At that meeting, as the Herald reported on Aug. 27, Dietrich said new tracking software used by the city showed as many as 900 properties that had not complied with the requirement. He said the owners of unlicensed sites would be fined, a penalty allowed by ordinance.

At the most recent council meeting on Sept. 2, Dietrich notified the governing body that he had misspoken concerning the number of unlicensed sites.

“The total number of short-term rental sites was 900,” Dietrich said on Sept. 2. The actual number without a license appears to be closer to 90. City Clerk Erin Burke said her office was refining that number further, and the final number of properties subject to enforcement may be closer to 45.

Obtaining the license is important because it triggers the city’s safety inspections. This year for the first time the city is using new software, Rentalscape, which employs online rental databases to track available short-term rental properties within the city.

Dietrich told the council that he wanted to correct the record given his earlier error.

Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.