El Paso city officials are holding 10 public meetings through March 1 to get feedback on their proposal to regulate Airbnb and Vrbo short-term rentals through a city ordinance.

Most short-term rentals are part of the Airbnb and Vrbo electronic listing platforms. The number of those listings, which mostly cater to vacation and business travelers, have exploded in El Paso in recent years.

El Paso has 1,500 to 1,850 short-term rentals, depending on the time of year, according to Airbnb and Vrbo data, a city official said.

Officials are looking at possible regulations that may limit where short-term rentals could be located, institute permit requirements, including a permit fee, and also impose city hotel and motel taxes on the rentals. The proposed ordinance also would allow certain enforcement actions.

City officials have defined a short-time rental as a residential dwelling rented to overnight guests for less than 30 consecutive days.

Several El Pasoans operating Airbnb rentals spoke against the proposed regulations at a Jan. 18 City Council meeting, saying the regulations would harm the short-term rental market in El Paso.

Tiffany Menefee told council members that she’d lose four of her five Airbnb rentals if many of the proposals were instituted.

"As far as paying taxes and fees, I am not against paying them as long as they are fair and reasonable," she said.

"The fees in the proposed regulation seem excessive to me," especially when compared to the permit fee in San Antonio, Menefee said.

El Paso real estate agent Fernie Sanchez, who has 16 Airbnb rental properties in El Paso, told the El Paso Times that city officials are proposing stricter and costlier requirements on the short-term rental market than in many other cities.

"I'm against the (proposed) regulations. They will kill the business," Sanchez said.

More: Airbnb, Vrbo short-term rental market explodes in El Paso in last four years

City officials plan to use comments from the meetings, being held from Thursday to March 1, to help craft the ordinance, which will be brought to City Council in the future for approval.

The first two meetings are Thursday at 10:30 a.m. at the Greater El Paso Association of Realtors office, 6400 Gateway East Blvd., and 6 p.m. at the El Paso Community College Administration Services Center, Building A, 9050 Viscount Blvd.

The list of meetings can be found on the city’s website at https://www.elpasotexas.gov/planning-and-inspections/

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Vic Kolenc may be reached at 546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso officials seek input on possible Airbnb rental law at meetings