Carroll County government holds leases on 111 properties, generating $1.72 million annually for county coffers.
“We’re kind of like a property manager,” Bryan Bokey, director of the county’s Department of Public Works said Thursday during the Board of Carroll County Commissioners meeting.
The properties include farmland, residential properties and buildings for nonprofit agencies. The county also owns right-of-way easements and land designated for stormwater management.
“The county has purchased many properties over the years for future use and anticipated projects,” a county briefing paper states. “The Department of Public Works manages and leases these properties to offset costs during project development or while future uses are considered.”
The department regularly evaluates each property to determine if they should be sold.
Bokey said he would ask commissioners at a future date to discuss and vote on which properties could go on the market.
The county leases 35 individual pieces of farmland, totaling 887 acres, that generate $50,550 in revenue annually. The county also leases 17 residential properties, generating $157,000 annually, and 14 parcels used by nonprofit agencies. Most of the nonprofits pay nothing or $1 per year in rent to the county.
The county leases eight parcels to various businesses, generating $387,000 annually. It collects $774,000 a year from vendors at the Carroll County Regional Airport, and $292,000 from 12 cell tower companies.
District 3 Commissioner Thomas Gordon III asked Bokey to look at the rents charged on agricultural and residential properties to determine if they can be increased. Gordon said he wants the rents to be in line with what is charged in the private sector.
“I’d like to see us take a deeper look at this,” he said.
Bokey said rent increases have been considered.
“A lot of them do have a plan to increase those rents incrementally throughout the year,” he said. “We are starting to take a look at that. Definitely more work to do there.”
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