(1) Arizona Auditor General Finds ABOR “Property Lacked Oversight And Accountability”
15 October 2019
Hmmm.... it's all about those P3rs we hear about "Public + Private + Partnerships"
The Arizona Auditor General has released an audit of the property practices of the Arizona Board of Regents. The Audit found that the Regents’ “lack of written guidance for implementing its real estate policies and approving commercial subleases increases the risk of inappropriate use of public resources leased to private parties.”
As the Auditor General notes, Arizona law authorizes ABOR to own and lease its property for the benefit of the State and for the universities’ use, and it has approved leases for commercial purposes.
Auditor General findings:
ABOR approved commercial lease agreements that generate revenue for universities, some providing property tax benefits to lessees:
Under its statutory authority to lease property, ABOR has approved long-term lease agreements on behalf of each of the universities for commercial development of ABOR property, including for hotels and office buildings. These commercial lease agreements include provisions for the lessees to provide rental revenue and/or additional lessee payments to the universities.
Despite policy revisions, ABOR’s lack of written guidance for implementing its real estate policies increases risk of inappropriate use of public resources . . . "
Look back to May for Jeff McVay, downtown's transformation director, doing a city council presentation using a
BOGUS ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY prepared by ASU to justify tricking Mesa Tax-Payers going into debt for more than $64,000,000
Are they gambling on a boom in student housing and retail? and 'private wealth-creation' by holding companies >
THAT WAS ALL QUITE PUBLIC BACK IN FEBRUARY 2018 as you can see above ^. -----
That's quite a crooked Partnership! A RARE PUBLIC APPEARANCE
- Then-AZ State Senator Bob Worsley admits in public gambling on real speculation
- Former US. Congressman Matt Salmon, hired on as a lobbyist for ASU
City officials tried to trick taxpayers with this "pretty picture" of a 5-story building with a BIG Jumbotron screen - that didn't exist.
So now it's back to the drawing board
IN THE SCHEMATIC DESIGN PHASE. . .and they say "Trust Us" ??????
Keep reading to find out more > see if it applies or not . . . or OVER-LOOKED???
Source: https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2019/10/15
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Auditor General finds deficiencies in ABOR real estate dealings
"University of Arizona failed to properly oversee a commercial real estate project and allowed millions of dollars to be improperly spent, and there is a general lack of transparency and oversight at university real estate projects overseen across the state by the Arizona Board of Regents, state auditors concluded.
The report from the Arizona Auditor General comes as ABOR, Arizona State University and the City of Tempe have faced increased scrutiny from Attorney General Mark Brnovich and state lawmakers over claims that real estate deals involving ASU in Tempe may have violated the state’s constitution.
The 80-page report looks into the commercial real estate dealings of the state’s three major universities, Arizona State University, University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University.
Although ABOR adopted new rules late last year in an attempt to rein in real estate deals done by universities, auditors found that more needs to be done to ensure proper oversight and guidance.
> ABOR agreed with some of the recommendations auditors made and disagreed with others. It also took issue with how parts of the audit were conducted.
> The Auditor General did not agree.
“It is misleading to state that we found no examples of inappropriate use of public resources leased to private parties,” auditors said in response. “[A]s of March 2019, none of the universities had presented a long-term, commercial lease agreement proposal to ABOR for its review and approval since it revised its leasing policy. Thus, there were no agreements executed under ABOR’s revised leasing policy for us to review.”
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Re: ASU Tempe
“For example, despite ASU stating that the Marina Heights development would provide revenue to the state and local municipalities and employment opportunities for students, it could not provide an economic benefits analysis to support this statement,” the report states.
> Auditors found that ABOR lacked written policies that would help guide universities during the leasing process.
> Additionally, auditors found that ABOR had not developed written guidance for how universities should determine the fair market rental value for their properties.
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ABOR RESPONDS:
> ABOR also claimed that its commercial real estate practices may be the best in the country.
> “[T]he Auditor General was unable to identify any other state with a similarly well-defined policy structure, and it may be that ABOR’s commercial lease policy is the only one currently developed and in place, essentially making ABOR the model and best practice in the United States,” the response states.
LOOKS LIKE ALMOST A DRAW AND A STAND-OFF
Sean McCarthy with the Arizona Tax Research Association said he was “pleased” to see ABOR working towards better oversight, but the
“challenges of state universities providing permanent property tax breaks remains unsolved.”
- “We’re stunned to see ABOR pivot from justifying these deals as positive for the community because of their economic impact to now suggesting they don’t need to measure their impact because they are simply revenue generators and not at all like municipal economic development,” McCarthy told Arizona Mirror.
