City of Malibu wants to start a “Sheriff SRT Team” … “The STR patrol would consist of two sheriff deputies in a dedicated patrol car with additional training and focus on short-term rental, special event permit and noise ordinances … “
The short-term rental patrol is active during Malibu’s peak STR rental period. (Must be in summer, right? Three months.) The projected cost of this is $66,000.
Seriously? A public record request to the city has revealed that the city’s short-term rental hotline has received, from Jan. 1, 2017 up to today*, a total of 15 calls regarding nine unique properties. That is about two calls per three months.
Let me think—two calls per three months. Cost of “Sheriff STR Team” for three months is $66,000. Doesn’t that mean $33,000 per call?
Yes, we desperately need “two deputies in a designated patrol car.”
Heikki Ketola
*[Editor’s note: this letter was sent on Sept. 24.]