Whistleblower 9: County Fails To Collect 40K For Land Rental

Two billboards sit in a prime spot along Interstate 77 where thousands of drivers see them every day. But somehow, the county managed to overlook them two years ago when they bought property along Remount Road for a park.

What the county missed was $40,000 in rent from the billboard company that the county should have collected.

“For us, it was an honest oversight,” said Michelle Witt, Mecklenburg County spokeswoman.

Witt said when the county bought the property, the people who worked the deal knew about the billboards and the 30-year lease paying the landowner $10,000 a year in rent per billboard.

“It ended up slipping through the cracks because the rent was only paid one time a year, and that was nine months after we closed on the property,” Witt said.

It was two years before someone noticed. By then the county had missed out on $40,000 in rent.

So who did get that money?

His name is Harold Morgan, the previous owner of the property.

“I wanted to ask you about these leases. You collected $40,000 in leases after the property was sold to the county,” said Eyewitness News reporter Mark Becker.

“Well, I didn't know that till a few months back,” Morgan said.

Morgan said he'd signed the lease with Adams Outdoor Advertising in 1998. When he sold the property to a tree trimming company the next year, both sides agreed that Morgan would continue collecting the rent from the billboard company.

When Mecklenburg County bought the land from the tree trimming company two years ago, that should have stopped, but it didn’t.

“Yes, it fell through the cracks,” Morgan said.

Morgan said his attorney is talking with the billboard company and the county to decide who should get that back rent, but he didn't make any promises.

“Are you willing to pay that $40,000 if (the county says), ‘That's our money’?” Becker asked.

“Well, I've got paperwork. We'll sit down and talk about all this,” Morgan said.

As for the county, Eyewitness News had one more question.

“Could we be missing a few others (that owe the county money)?" Becker asked.

“We certainly won't be from this point,” Witt said.

Witt said part of the problem is the county had never made a deal like this one before, but now that they know the things for which to watch, they won't miss it the next time they buy land with billboards.

Eyewitness News also spoke with Adams Outdoor Advertising, the billboard company. It said it has lived up to its end of the contract by paying the rent every year. It did not want to comment on the case.