The Portland City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to charge landlords $60 per unit to operate the city renter services department.

The mayor and commissioners created the Renter Services Office in 2017 to handle landlord-tenant issues, enforce fair housing laws, run an evictions payment program and administer a rental registration database.

A city analysis recommends a yearly $60 per-unit fee to fund the office’s work, adjusted for inflation every year. If approved, it would collect up to $3.9 million in its first year. The ordinance before Council does not establish a late fee.

Rental units guaranteed to be affordable under federal government standards would be exempt from the fee, as would landlords who earn no more than 60 percent of the median household income.

A central element of the Renter Services Office is the promise that it will establish and monitor an accurate census of rental units in Portland. Landlords are to register their units on yearly tax filings.

City commissioners have expressed strong support for the registry, saying additional data will help them assess Portland’s housing supply and craft better policy.

Several other West Coast cities including Seattle, San Diego and even Gresham already have rental unit registries.

— Gordon R. Friedman

GFriedman@Oregonian.com