As Park County commissioners look for any ways to cut costs, they may consider the feasibility of selling off one of their largest assets: The Park County Complex in Cody.

County Assessor Pat Meyer suggested the idea at an Aug. 6 commission meeting, saying he’s always considered the facility to be a “black hole” because of the cost to maintain it. Further, given that the county rents out much of the square footage, “that building is competing with private enterprise,” Meyer said.

The Park County Complex houses the Cody library on its bottom level, while the upper two floors are occupied by a mix of tenants that include private businesses and other government agencies. Meyer said he’s “been in contact with some other people about what are our options if we sold that building” and then leased the library space from the new owner.

“I don’t like — and neither does the [Legislature] like — us competing with private enterprise,” Meyer said.

“None of us like that,” interjected Commission Chairman Jake Fulkerson, to agreement from fellow commissioners.

As commissioners look for any ways to cut costs or raise revenues and close a roughly $2 million deficit, Fulkerson called it “a great idea” to explore the possibility of selling off the building. Commissioner Lee Livingston similarly said he liked the discussion, which will include looking at the revenue and expenses associated with the complex.

“Even if we decide to do nothing, the public deserves the oversight,” Fulkerson said.

The county acquired the more than 116,000-square-foot building and the sprawling 22-acre campus from Marathon Oil Company in 2005. Commissioners paid $4.05 million, which was considered to be a significant discount.

But there have long been critics of the deal, who don’t like the idea of the county acting as a landlord; some of those criticisms were voiced by Park County Commission candidates in 2018.

As for the numbers, it’s difficult to definitively say whether the building is a net plus or minus for the county budget.

Lease data compiled by the commissioners’ office indicates that the county is collecting about $584,500 in annual revenue from the 49,178 square feet now under lease. Meanwhile, the county spends around $445,800 on utilities and staffing (five custodians, a maintenance/ground technician and an office assistant). But there’s an undetermined amount spent on yearly maintenance, seasonal staffing and major maintenance projects at the complex — such as the $1.15 million the county spent in 2010 to replace chillers and windows and add VAV boxes.

“I think on a good year, we’re close to breaking even on that building, when it’s at full capacity,” Park County Buildings and Grounds Supervisor Mike Garza said in an interview. “But when it’s not full, there’s the potential that we could lose quite a bit of money.”

It’s worth noting that the county “loses money” on all of the other buildings it owns, spending money to maintain them while receiving little or no revenue from renters. At the Park County Fairgrounds, for instance, Garza said renting out the buildings and camping spots doesn’t raise enough money to even cover the entire grounds’ utility bills.

“None of our buildings are money makers for the county,” he said.

The Park County Complex may have the best chance of having its rent revenue cover its expenses, but that’s dependent on the number of tenants.

A 1,765-square-foot suite has sat empty since April, when University of Wyoming Distance terminated its lease and moved into the 9,500 square feet of space rented by Northwest College. The county has been missing out on $2,165 a month while it seeks a new tenant.

More significantly, county officials fear that the complex’s largest tenant, Merit Energy Company, will downsize their office space when their lease expires next year.

When Merit bought Marathon Oil Company’s Wyoming assets in 2016, it agreed to take on the company’s leases in the Park County Complex. Merit is currently renting more than 19,200 square feet of space, paying the county roughly $201,650 a year.

But commissioners are convinced the oil and gas company will give up some of that space in June 2020. Fulkerson noted that vacancies could make it harder to sell the Park County Complex.

“When that [current Merit Energy] lease goes away, that building’s really going to drop in value,” he predicted.

Garza said it can be hard to find renters, because some of the suites are so large.

If the county starts to see a steady departure of tenants, “we need to make the hard decision: Do we do a remodel on the inside to break some of those spaces down into more usable, smaller spaces and hope to recoup the money?” Garza said. Selling the building could be the other option, he said, but “the only problem with that is, who wants a building that’s [116,000] square feet?”