Local Government Looting Continues
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 6/10/09 @ 10:18 pm - Filed Under Featured, Local Politics
If you haven’t read Kevin Leininger’s story from yesterday’s News-Sentinel regarding the city’s preparations to move out of the city-county building then you need to. The city currently leases part of the city-county building but they are now considering buying the Renaissance Square property.
Back in February I had a post entitled Keep an Eye On Renaissance Square and the gist of it was that the city was likely going to vastly overpay George Huber for a piece of property that is essentially worthless. One can only infer why they might do this but they’ve been looking at it for years and with leases on the city-county building and the police station coming to an end it’s no surprise that they would now seriously consider this option.
I’m sure they can make a valid argument for why this makes sense but let’s dig a little deeper and revisit what I wrote back in February:
The Renaissance Square building has had no commercial tenants for years. It previously held the Lincoln museum and was also the temporary library during the library’s renovation. It is for sale but there are no interested parties - the building, in this market, is essentially worthless.
The county has assessed the value around $1.1 million but now that local government is showing an interest the latest appraisal came in at $7 million. That is just a complete joke. There isn’t anyone who would pay $7 million for that building when downtown continues to hollow out. To his credit Deputy Mayor Purcell has said the $7 million mark is a non-starter but is this where the bamboozle begins?
If the city looks to purchase this property somewhere in the $2-3 million range and declare it a “good value” for the taxpayer then you’ll know what’s going down. They will justify this via some bogus appraisals and they will also need to spend millions on renovations, parking, etc.
Purchasing that property would certainly put a vast amount of money into George Huber’s pocket. He’ll be able to dump a building that he’s been stuck with for years and remember Huber is also part of the Downtown Improvement District.
Nobody can be sure where this is headed but consider this fair warning. For whatever reason the city has been trying to find ways to use/buy this property for years. The cynic in me wonders why. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens
Now with that in mind let’s look at Leininger’s story:
“I met with the mayor (Tuesday), and it looks like the city will be moving out (of the City-County Building),” County Commissioner Bill Brown said.
[...]
The city’s $1.2 million-a-year lease on about half the 240,000-square-foot county-owned City-County Building expires at the end of the year. If the lease is not renewed, the city would most likely relocate to the vacant Renaissance Square building at 202 E. Berry St., which was first suggested as a new home for city government in 2003.
[...]
Brown, meanwhile, has said Renaissance owner George Huber has described the city’s move as a “done deal.”
Huber is running around telling people it’s a done deal? As I’ve said many a time before - the fix is in bubba. This is how government looting works. Power brokers with government access use their influence to profit from government decisions. Huber has no hope of selling this building anytime in the near future and he’s been stuck with it for years. But along come his buddies in the Henry administration and Voila! - the building is sold and for much more than it’s actually worth.
The city simply cannot afford to undergo this or any other major project right now. If you thought the budget cuts were rough last year wait until you see what happens this year. The city is in major trouble. Property values, wages and consumption are all on the decline. There is simply no way the people can continue to provide for the expansion of government. I don’t see any way around massive cuts unless the city is willing to dip into their ample cash reserves. Of course if the economic recovery is years in the making (which I think is a near certainty) then it won’t be long before the reserves are gone too.
I don’t want to stray too far into budget talks as there will be plenty of time for that. I simply want to point out that what you are about to see regarding Renaissance Square will likely be a textbook example of government looting…
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3 Responses to “Local Government Looting Continues”
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Does anybody know if Mr. Huber donated to the Henry for Mayor campaign?
Apparently George knows something that most of the rest of us don’t… and as per usual among his kind, doesn’t mind just speaking freely and out loud about it. Maybe because there’s nothing anyone can do about it? I wonder what Mr. Green Jeans thinks…
Sounds like embezzlement if the property is not worth the “fair market value”! The 4th branch of government, investigative reporters? Thanks Mr. Kevin L.
I’d say if this sale would go thru the State Attonery Office might want to take it to the next step.