Staff flags possible Verizon lease revenue loss and rising email hosting costs

Sunset City finance staff reported two items that could affect future revenues and operating costs: a potential change to the Verizon cell-site lease and an increase in the cost of the city's Google-hosted email accounts.

Nicole told the council a representative of the roof/site lease informed the city that the tenant is moving to a new contract model for small cell/minisite technology, and that the new arrangement could reduce the city's annual lease revenue beginning later in FY26. Staff said the original 2015 lease contained higher annual amounts; the new draft the city received indicated a lower per-month payment and staff said they were pursuing answers from the telecom representative and the city's attorney. Nicole asked the council to plan conservatively for reduced revenue until the city receives a definitive payment schedule from the company.

Separately, staff said the city's hosted email service charges will rise: the vendor informed the city that seats (accounts) would increase in price and the city currently has up to 44 seats on the plan. Nicole said she would verify the precise monthly and annual impact and report corrected math to the council, noting her initial calculation needed confirmation.

Council direction: staff were asked to verify the Verizon contract language, confirm any back-pay or arrearage amounts and check whether the contract permits interest or penalties for missed payments; staff will also confirm the final Google-hosting monthly/annual numbers and present corrected figures at a future meeting.