The Starke County Park Board is looking to raise the rent on the Bass Lake Beach and Campground. Callahan Development, LLC currently pays the county $5,400 a year to lease the facilities from the county.
During a recent meeting, Park Board Member Rik Ritzler pointed out that the contract allows them to negotiate a rent increase of up to eight percent a year. But that’s only happened once since the lease began in 2008. Had it gone up by the maximum amount each year, the county would have made an extra $40,000.
But County Attorney Marty Lucas said the wording of the lease didn’t actually allow the county to start raising the rent until it was renewed for a second 10 years in 2018, and Park Board President Richard Ballard agreed with that interpretation. As for why the park board didn’t try to raise it again in 2019 and 2020, Lucas said it may have simply been an oversight. In the end, Ballard suggested preparing a resolution for the board’s approval at its November meeting, to let Callahan know it wants to raise the rent in 2021.
How much of the rent is actually being paid was a concern in previous years, as the operator is allowed to deduct the cost of capital improvements from its rent payment. What exactly qualifies as a capital improvement has repeatedly been a topic of debate.
