The Long Beach Auditor’s Office discovered that there was no oversight or formal guidelines in place for the majority of these leases.
The City Auditor’s Office published a report in March that shows $650,000,000 worth of Long Beach property is being leased out to community and nonprofit organizations without any documented guidelines.
The City currently has 14 historic leases with nonprofits that are either worth $0 or 1 annually, in exchange for providing services to the community. However, there is no formal reporting system for many of these leases.
Harvey M. Rose & Associates conducted the 50-page City Property Management and Oversight performance on behalf of City Auditor’s Office. The Economic Development Department’s Property Services Bureau in Long Beach is responsible for the acquisition, leasing, and sale of city-owned buildings, land and facilities.
The report did not include property owned by Long Beach Airport, Port of Long Beach or the Utilities Department, since they are responsible for their land and infrastructure. Carlo Tomaino, the City Manager of Signal Hill told The Signal Tribune via email.
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Here is the full list of properties Long Beach leases to non-profits and their rental fees.
- Long Beach Organic: $0
- Los Angeles Mental Health Association: $0
- Aquarium of the Pacific: $1 per year
- Historical Society of Long Beach – $1 per year
- The annual donation to Killing Fields of Memorial Center, Inc. is $1
- Long Beach Fireman’s Historical Society – $1 per year
- Carmelitos’ Head Start Center at LBUSD: $1 per year
- Downtown Long Beach Alliance, $1 per month
- Long Beach Fireman’s Credit Union – $1 per year
- Farm Lot 59: 1 dollar per year plus 1% gross revenues generated both on-site and off-site
- YMCA Greater Long Beach: 1 dollar per year
- Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Long Beach, MLK Park Location: $1 per year
- Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Long Beach Fairfield Location): $1 per year
- Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Long Beach, Admiral Kidd Park Location: $1 per year
- Long Beach Museum of Art Foundation: $100 per month
- Bay Shore Congregational Church : $300 per month
- Accessibility First: 2 600 dollars per month
- Children’s Clinic – $1,500 per month
- Centro CHA : $53,932 per annum
The City Auditor report states that Long Beach offsets rent costs for many of these groups through direct subsidy or rent credit.
Sometimes the City will renovate a building to lease to a non-profit. For example, the Aquarium of the Pacific cost $1.5 million and the Mental Health America of Los Angeles spent $3.45 on a clinic.
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Only two of the organizations listed above are required by the city to submit a report on their work in the community. Long Beach Organic is required to submit bi-annual accomplishment reports about their work at the Parks, Recreation, and Marine Department. The report states that the YMCA Greater Long Beach was required to submit an annual report on valuation, but it hasn’t done so since 2018.
Four key findings were identified by the City’s Auditor’s Office:
- Long Beach lacks a complete inventory of the City’s property.
- Property Services Bureau of the City needs to create guidelines and policies regarding leases, tenant investment, improvements allowances, and lease structure.
- There were at least four instances where Long Beach has sold City property without an official competitive bid process to a third party.
- There are some leases that allow the tenant to buy the property after the initial term. However, there’s no guarantee it will be used in a public purpose.
- There is no formal evaluation and planning process for the City’s long-term space requirements.
The Auditor’s Office sent 14 recommendations to Property Services Bureau. Changes could be made within three months or by the end of the calendar year.
Click here to view the complete report of the City Auditor’s Office: https://www.cityauditorlauradoud.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/City-Property-Management-and-Oversight-Performance-Audit.pdf