Athens-Clarke committee proposes flat nonprofit rent, documentary criteria for deep discounts

Andrew Saunders, presenting GOC recommendations to the Athens-Clarke County mayor and commission, proposed replacing the current complex rent formula for nonprofit and quasi-government tenants with a simpler structure and tighter documentary review.

Under the recommendation, nonprofit leased facilities would have a flat base rent of $6 per square foot. Agencies that document meeting at least six of 13 listed public-benefit criteria would be eligible for a 50% reduction (to $3 per square foot); agencies that demonstrate nine or more criteria could qualify for a nominal $1-per-year lease. The committee also recommends crediting tenant capital investments against rent reductions up to the fair-market value of the documented investment and replacing optimistic "wear-and-tear" rent language with a targeted damage-recovery clause.

Saunders said the policy change responds to several implementation problems under the 2020 policy, which used a layered formula based on location, size and services and included caps such as capping rent at no more than 25% of an agency's average annual income and exempting agencies receiving more than $60,000 a year in funding. He said the earlier open-ended community-benefits approach created legal risk of unequal treatment and that staff should be able to verify benefit criteria with documentary evidence before the commission considers any discount.

Commissioners asked for a facility-by-facility history of prior rents and the current tenant list; Saunders agreed to provide that information. Commissioners also raised concerns about discounted tenants potentially subleasing for profit and the reliability of self-reported revenue-share calculations; Saunders confirmed the prior revenue-share practice remains in place (10% of event rental revenue above $3,600 per year) and identified two facilities now remitting revenue shares.

Next steps: the committee will place the proposal on January agenda-setting and the commission is expected to consider it in February. If adopted, staff would work with tenants on required documentation and bring lease renewals before the commission in the May'June cycle.