Get out of rental business, Bruce says

County Commissioner Douglas Bruce is advising the El Paso County Parks Department to get out of the liabilityladen rental business.

The department rents two houses within the boundaries of parks it manages, a notion Bruce — a landlord — finds absurd in light of the county’s purported budget crisis.

The department should sell the houses and sock the money into a trust fund, the interest of which could generate more money than the $20,000 a year in rent the two properties bring in, Bruce says.

“You aren’t really getting $20,000 a year because this on its face does not reflect all the expenses, it doesn’t address all the long-term cost, and of course it doesn’t address the issue about whether this is your core mission, which is parks, not rental housing,” Bruce told the Parks Advisory Board on Tuesday.

Selling the now tax-exempt houses would also put the properties back on the tax rolls, Bruce said.

The department acquired the houses, one in Fox Run Regional Park and the other in Fountain Creek Regional Park, at the same time as the parks, said Tim Wolken, Parks Department director.

The department at one time employed full-time park caretakers who lived in the houses, Wolken said.

When those positions were eliminated, the department got into the rental business.

At times, county employees, including deputy sheriffs, have rented the houses from the county.

The Fox Run property, at 15810 Roller Coaster Road, was built in 1970 and sits on 5.6 acres.

Tenants pay $1,000 a month for 1,000 square feet of living space, though there is also a 1,000-square-foot unfinished basement.

The house in Fountain Creek, at 300 Duckwood Road, was built in 1991 after an original house was torn down, Wolken said.

The house shares the 5.5-acre property with the Parks Department’s service garage and equipment shed. Tenants pay $855 a month for 1,800 square feet.

Local real estate experts say the rent charged is on par with the properties’ respective markets.

The El Paso County Assessor’s Office lists the Fox Run and Fountain Creek properties as valued at $195,000 and $254,000, respectively.

Those numbers do not reflect the market value, however. The Parks Department would have to have the properties appraised if it sold the houses.

Repairs on the two houses in the past year and a half have been nominal, with Parks Department employees able to fix most of what goes wrong, Wolken said.

But Bruce, who himself is trying to get out of the rental business, warns that eventually roofs or carpet will have to be replaced, projects that would dip into the annual net income.

The Parks Advisory Board on Tuesday directed Wolken to look into the feasibility of selling the houses.

Some board members were concerned it may be more costly to untangle the houses’ utilities from the park system than it would to maintain ownership.

Others thought it might be best to move the houses off park land so the county won’t lose park acreage in a sale.

“I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer here,” Wolken said. “I certainly appreciate Commissioner Bruce’s comments, and I think there are a lot of positive issues involved with this.”

No timetable was set for Wolken to report back to the advisory board, but Bruce warned the group not to wait too long.

“If you think the real estate market is shaking out, if it goes down you’re going to miss an opportunity to sell it,” Bruce said. “You may not be able to get as much a year or two from now as you could today.”