From The Sacramento Bee: The Natomas (Calif.) Unified School District has sued two development firms, alleging the district vastly overpaid for a 41-acre school site and demanding repayment of some of the money. Natomas Unified executed a $13.3 million sales contract in late 2006 with AKT Investments Inc. and West Lakeside LLC, headed by developer Angelo K. Tsakopoulos. School board President Teri Burns says the district wants to reclaim $10.4 million it believes it overpaid for the land.
JUNE 2009...from The Sacramento Bee: Natomas (Calif.) Unified School District trustees are defending district officials and blaming a lawyer and a real estate broker for the inflated price paid for a 41-acre school site. A May grand jury report criticized the district for paying $325,000 an acre, or $13.3 million, for the farmland – six times its actual value. It said the single appraisal on the property was based on land with houses that could be annexed to the city. The trustees say the district "was misled, if not taken advantage of, by these consultants."
MAY 2009 from The Sacramento Bee: Local, state and federal authorities should investigate the Natomas (Calif.) Unified School District's purchase of 41 acres of farmland for six times its value, a Sacramento County grand jury recommends. The grand jury report concludes that Superintendent Steve Farrar failed to exercise proper oversight in 2007 over the $13.3 million purchase of the school site. The single appraisal presented to the school board was based on property with houses that had sewer and water service. None of those conditions existed.
