AG: Move offices to Agana, invest savings into fighting crime and helping crime victims

Attorney General Douglas Moylan is balking at the cost the Office of the Attorney General of Guam has been paying to rent its offices at the ITC Building in Tamuning. The lease expires this July, and he has told Kandit he intends to move the OAG back to the capital for much-lower cost, and invest the savings into crime reduction and to benefit crime victims.

According to the OAG’s lease with the ITC Building’s management, the OAG occupies offices in five of the 10 floors of the Tamuning building. The least now is nearly 10 years old. As of the most recent iteration of the lease agreement, the taxpayers pay $1.6 million annually to rent the OAG 42,465 square feet of office space and 95 parking stalls at the ITC Building.

“I am hoping to save a lot of money, invest that money into our crime fighters, and improve customer service access,” Mr. Moylan said. “GovGuam made someone very wealthy renting all of ITC.”

Mr. Moylan is referring to several other GovGuam agencies that packed the ITC Building since the Calvo administration. These include the Guam Police Department, Department of Administration, Chamorro Land Trust Commission, Ancestral Lands Commission, Department of Land Management, Guam Housing Corporation, and Guam Economic Development Authority.

Many of these leases were renewed and expanded, despite the extraordinary cost to taxpayers, during the Leon Guerrero administration. A member of the governor’s family is on the board of the company that owns the ITC Building.

Hagatna, the capital and seat of the government, has several office buildings that offer rental prices far below the prices ITC charges the government of Guam.

According to an Office of Public Accountability Analysis of Government of Guam Leases issued October 2022, GovGuam uses $15.7 million of your money to rent office spaces for several agencies of all three branches of the government. The executive branch contributes to the lion’s share of the cost, or $14.5 million in annual lease payments for office space as of June 30, 2022. This means the OAG accounts for more than 10 percent of the total lease expenses.

“OAG pays the highest cost per square foot for its office lease compared to other GovGuam tenants at the ITC Building at $3.00 per sq. ft, which has remained unchanged since FY 2015,” the OPA report states.

“We intend to move to Hagatna due to our paying one of the highest rents to save taxpayer monies per square foot, closer to the court system, and with less congestion and traffic for our customers, like child support parents,” Mr. Moylan said.

Both the Unified Judiciary of Guam and the U.S. District Court of Guam are located in the island’s capital. Several judges during the administration of former Attorney General Leevin Camacho scolded prosecutors, who were constantly late to criminal proceedings. The capital also is home to the governor’s office and to the Guam Legislature.

“Hagatna has local and federal courts we practice before,” Mr. Moylan said. “It’s also easier for southern and northern customers to get to in Hagatna. It’s central, in addition to our capital being in Hagatna. Tamuning is wrong for many reasons and I have a duty to the taxpayers to best use their money and save where we can. Also, I want the saved money to use to fight crime and protect crime victims.”