They will normally charge you for desk space, using their printer, support from them and their office staff, Etc....Then there are MLS fees, Lock Box fees, Continuing Education costs, and the basic costs of running your own business.

The entire town is in a property owner association(basically and HOA).

Yup, and that's just basic 101.

As a PM with 65 units, ours are basically identical to that

My view is that the extra income from STRs/MTRs basically compensates for the extra effort.  

The basic fees on a loan make up too high a percentage on low priced loans which classifies them as predatory.

Basically, you are trying to jump the gun.

I e-mailed the city council people and the response I got was basically "We're not allowing more than 250 STR's in our city so get in line".

He comes across like a very basic con artist slime-ball to me, preying on insecure people by acting confident and successful, which people mistake for actual success.

Expense ratios vary dramatically depending on project size, age and other factors, but basic rule of thumb is the smaller the project the higher the expense ratio's, using a 33% expense ratio for a small facility (less than 150 units) is optimistic, smaller facilities are probably closer to 40%.