Case Study
How Gilbert, AZ Prepares for the Future While Protecting What Makes It Great with GovOS
Overview
The Town of Gilbert, Arizona, has been consistently rated a best place to live. With its charming locale, friendly residents, and proximity to stunning landscapes and the City of Phoenix, it’s no wonder that Gilbert is a popular tourist hotspot. With the tagline “Town of the Future,” Gilbert aims to protect what makes its community great while meeting future needs by making it easier to transact with its departments.
With a population of only around 275,000, Gilbert welcomes over 5.4 million visitors annually. With just one administrative staff member dedicated to handling hundreds of short-term rentals, the Town of Gilbert staff quickly realized they needed to update existing processes. The Town’s manual, paper-based approach was not keeping pace with the rapidly evolving rental landscape, resulting in low voluntary compliance rates and fee payments to support the oversight of rental properties.
To close the gap and protect the quality of life for its full-time residents, Ashley Namor, Gilbert’s Business Compliance Project Manager, balanced two somewhat competing priorities—simplifying the registration process and ensuring ongoing compliance of all short-term rental properties, while ensuring that the full-time residents’ needs were met.
Gilbert, AZ
Ashley Namor
Business Compliance Project Manager
GovOS Solutions
Business Licensing, Short-Term Rental, Tax Filing
Population
275,000
Agency Type
Town
Region
Southwest
Customer Results
10X
increase in compliance for short-term rental registrations
$150
saved on every short-term rental registration
$85K+
revenue generated for Gilbert through increased short-term rental registrations
1
centralized digital hub for all short-term rental inquiries
The Need
Gilbert’s approach to managing their short-term rentals was labor-intensive and lacked efficiency, hindering their ability to keep pace with the rapidly growing numbers of short-term rentals they knew were operating within Town limits. The lack of publicly available information and a paper-based, manual process resulted in low compliance rates among rental property owners, further resulting in a substantial loss of potential revenue that could have been reinvested into the community.
Additionally, the state had passed down an ordinance that Gilbert could either choose to follow or create their own that best fit the Town’s unique needs. “There was a lot of confusion around what compliance looks like,” explained Namor. “What does it mean for Gilbert? What does it mean at the state level, and what can we actually require our owners to do in the meantime?”
Gilbert recognized the urgent need for a strategic overhaul of its short-term rental management system. The goal was to transition to a more regulated, transparent, and efficient framework that could better serve the interests of all stakeholders involved, including short-term rental owners and local residents. By addressing these challenges head-on, Gilbert aimed to enhance its regulatory framework as well as foster a more vibrant, sustainable community that could thrive in the face of the short-term rental economy’s demands.
When finding a software solution, it was critical for Gilbert to obtain community buy-in. Namor shared, “It was about creating an effective way to obtain the information we really needed to stay compliant with the state and to also make sure that the property owners knew that we were here to serve as a resource to them as well.”
The Solution
Gilbert turned to the GovOS tax and licensing solutions that offered a comprehensive suite of tools designed to automate and streamline the entire process of managing, registering, and taxing short-term rentals. This included digital applications for licenses and taxes, an online portal for easy access and management by rental owners, and sophisticated data analytics for better decision-making by town officials.
The implementation of these GovOS solutions transformed Gilbert’s approach from a largely reactive, paper-based system to a proactive, data-driven strategy. This move dramatically improved compliance rates through easier registration processes and more effective enforcement capabilities.
The Results
Increased Efficiency & Compliance
The move to digital processes facilitated a smoother, more accessible registration process for rental owners, resulting in less strain on staff and greater ease for short-term rental owners.
Fees for Services
With more rentals registered and accurate fee payments, Gilbert was able to invest in supporting local tourism to the benefit of the community.
Community & Stakeholder Engagement
One of the standout achievements was the improved engagement with both rental owners and the wider community. The GovOS platform enabled Gilbert to communicate more effectively with stakeholders, providing clear information about regulations, requirements, and resources available to both owners and residents.
Gilbert, AZ
Ashley Namor
Business Compliance Project Manager
By enabling an open and transparent process and the Town’s focus on communication the result was a more cooperative relationship between the Town, short-term rental owners, and residents to promote a better understanding and compliance with local ordinances and support smarter long-term growth.
For more information about GovOS solutions, visit govos.com/solutions/
Want to learn more about what GovOS has to offer?
