New tenant expected at City Hall

A new tenant is expected to move into the third floor of Brooksville City Hall, a move that city officials claim will save taxpayers roughly $60,000 a year.

City Manager Jennene Norman-Vacha said she expects a five-year lease agreement to be finalized this week with Children's Home Society of Florida officials to move operations to the third floor of City Hall.

The move into the 9,200-square-foot space would help fill the gap in city revenue left when the Hernando County Property Appraiser's Office moved out of the space in September - a $62,526 annual revenue loss to the city.

Norman-Vacha said city officials didn't advertise the space, but instead asked around and told other agencies that the space was open. The county's property appraiser's office move was also covered in the newspaper, she said.

Century 21 officials, while working with Children's Home Society, offered the city's property as an option, which led to talks between the city and the children's group.

"In this economy especially, it's difficult to find a group that's looking to rent that size of space," Norman-Vacha said. "And from our side of things, we're very pleased because we were looking at having to fill that revenue gap in the budget when we're already looking at property values decreasing anywhere between 15 and 25 percent."

Norman-Vacha explained that revenue from the $5,000 a month goes into the general fund and that revenue from the rent agreement would be used to offset the tax rate when city council members begin budget planning this summer.

Children's Home Society of Florida is a nonprofit agency that, according to its Web site, provides services for children and families that include foster care, adoption, child development, emergency shelters, residential group homes, independent and transitional living for teens, parent education, counseling, mentoring and treatment for developmentally disabled children.

Jennifer Anchor, executive director, said the office would house about 50 employees and that the group is moving to downtown Brooksville due to expansion from its current office on Ponce de Leon Boulevard in Brooksville.

Services offered would mainly center on family services to prevent child abuse and neglect.

Norman-Vacha said she expects the lease to go into effect on Wednesday, March 31.