Leasing: Not An Effective Revenue Source
Author: Diana Heeb Bivona
Cities, owning public land, do not finding the leasing of those lands to be a great money mking machine. However, they can serve a specific purpose.
A few cities like Dallas and New York use their available leases for economic growth stimulation. They find that leasing assists in creating new tax revenues and income from rental fees.
Los Angeles, Seattle and Phoenix believe in selling excess property instead of leasing it out. Their rationale is that it places the land back on tax rolls and puts much needed money toward other local and county services.
In Las Vegas, city officials lease public lands. They estimate that 30% of their land leases are to mostly non-profit organizations needing assistance with land development projects.