Two nonprofits leasing office space from the city of Talent for $1 a month will likely see large increase in their payments. At its June 5 meeting, City Council directed staff to prepare a resolution that would raise rates to $1.10 per square foot.

Jackson County Community Long-Term Recovery Group occupies the upper portion of the Depot Building on East Main Street. If the resolution is adopted and a new contract negotiated, the group’s rent would climb to about $890 per month.

Rogue Action Center operates out of a 484-square-foot cottage owned by the Talent Urban Renewal Agency on Home Street near Talent City Hall. If the agency follows suit, the rent could go to $532 in November when the lease comes up for renewal.

City Manager Gary Milliman presented the proposals for rate increases after an earlier council request. He also looked at rental rates of non-office space and rates for use of the Community Center, which have not increased since 2016.

The proposed increase is not a surprise. The city was looking at inconsistencies in the way it was charging nonprofits for office space use, said Caryn Wheeler Clay, executive director of the Long-Term Recovery Group. She said her organization is in a position to handle the rent hike.

“So long as they apply these rates consistently, it makes sense to me,” Clay said. “If I were a citizen of Talent, I would want my city being reimbursed for the use of the property. You have wear and tear.”

Rogue Action Center did not respond to requests for comment.

Milliman plans to bring the resolution to the council in July. The urban renewal agency will also consider the change next month, he said.

City officials conferred with local realtors and lessors, and checked other municipalities’ office space rentals, to come up with recommendations.

“There is no common practice for setting lease rates for nonprofits. No city has established uniform polices,” Milliman said. Charges ranged from zero to full market rates. Sometimes a reduced rate is viewed as an in-kind donation to a nonprofit. The $1.10 rate is 75% of the going rate for office space.

A third nonprofit, Talent Business Alliance, rents 220 square feet in Talent Community Hall on East Main Street. The alliance is currently paying $275 per month in rent. Mayor Darby Ayers-Flood and Councilor Ana Byers recused themselves from the discussion because both are affiliated with the alliance.

The Long-Term Recovery Group began a lease for the Depot Building space in October 2022. The lease was renewed in June 2023 for a year at a charge of $1 per month. A monthly lease rate of $969.64 had been calculated based on appraised value.

Talent viewed the value beyond the $1 charge as an in-kind contribution to the group’s fire-recovery efforts

Rates would double for some uses at the Community Center under a proposed fee schedule. But Milliman suggested, and councilors agreed, to take a look at raising the rates more gradually in the coming years.

“We could consider ticking the rates up in a series of years to get them up to the preferred rates,” Milliman said. “We will bring back more options.”

Under the proposal, a nonprofit would see the cost for a conference room go from $20 per hour to $50 per hour. Kitchen rates for nonprofits, currently $100 per use, would go to $100 per hour. Higher rates are charged for special events and still higher ones for commercial usage, and those, too, would be increased.

The city’s finance department researched what other municipalities charge for community center use and based fee recommendations on their findings.

Annual maintenance for the center and adjacent grounds is running around $45,000 per year, Milliman reported. That doesn’t include costs for major work such as painting. Currently, about $11,000 comes in from center users with the remaining $34,000 financed from the city’s general fund. The proposed rates would not cover the entire maintenance expense.

Councilors had no objections to retaining the current policy of setting rates for nonprofits using non-office space on a case-by-case basis, as recommended by Milliman. Just two properties are in that category.

“We were basically unable to find some comparable rates,” Milliman said of efforts to see what is charged elsewhere for such spaces.

ACCESS, Jackson County’s community action agency, recently signed a new lease to use space in Talent Community Hall for a weekly food pantry. The rate is $1 per month, but the organization is not using the building due to an April fire and runs the pantry in the parking lot.

Talent Historical Society leases a 2,305-square-foot city building, the former town library on North Market Street, for $100 per month. “The historical society is not a business, it’s a community amenity use,” Milliman said.