Committee questions Moraga Country Club lease after audit shows low lease revenue
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Summary
Committee members flagged a roughly $7,000 monthly lease payment for town-owned land used by Moraga Country Club, called it "insanely low" and asked staff to review lease terms. Staff said the lease includes limited public access and proposed adding a lease review to the 2026 work list.
A town lease with Moraga Country Club drew sharp questions at the Audit & Finance Committee meeting Dec. 2 after staff noted a monthly lease revenue figure of about $7,000 in the audit schedules.
"We are required to report on our leases, and our lease with the country club is a monthly revenue of about $7,000," a staff member said when the committee asked where the figure appeared in the report. A committee member responded: "That's insanely low for a for-profit enterprise," and asked whether the arrangement could constitute a gift of public funds.
Town staff and council members told the committee the agreement dates to the late 1980s and includes provisions that provide a public benefit: limited resident access to the putting area and driving range and occasional access to play. The town manager said he recalled the lease terms had been structured to avoid gift-of-public-funds issues at the time.
"We can go back and look at the current terms of the existing lease to see if that can be adjusted," the town manager said; staff said they will add a lease review to the 2026 work plan, subject to future council direction.
Why it matters: The committee’s discussion highlights two competing interests — maximizing public revenue for town services and preserving negotiated community uses embedded in a decades-old lease. Committee members called for a formal staff review to determine whether the lease terms remain consistent with current policy and law.
Next steps: Staff agreed to pull the original lease documents, research historical terms and present options for renegotiation or other actions to the council or a future committee meeting.