Cedar Rapids cools plans to spend $50K for golf consultant

By B.A. Morelli, The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS - Cedar Rapids officials are backing off plans to spend $50,000 for a consultant to evaluate the city's money losing public golf enterprise.

Instead, staff internally plans to tackle many of the same study objectives to assess the department, which oversees the 18-hole Gardner, Jones, Twin Pines and Ellis golf courses, and identify ways to save and make more money and ultimately close a perpetual budget shortfall. Over the years, the golf department has racked up a net deficit of nearly $2.5 million, according to the city's finance department. Property tax revenue has subsidized golf for years, officials said.

'As we started to review the proposals, and taking into consideration some of the comments we've received, we decided before we take this to a consultant on the outside, many of the tasks we could do ourselves,” City Manager Jeff Pomeranz told The Gazette on Thursday. 'We can utilize our own internal expertise, as well as save dollars.”

The city had been expected to sign a contract in late April with a final report in October. The city may still hire a consultant, but if it does it is to be more focused and likely much less expensive, Pomeranz said.

Assistant City Manager Sandi Fowler is to lead the review. She said recommendations can still be expected in October.

Pomeranz said the risk with outside consultants is they may lack local insight and recommendations may lack 'a full reflection of our community.” Pomeranz noted he is meeting with Des Moines officials about its three municipal courses, which are contracted to a third party operator but have also experienced financial challenges.

Several of the same possible outcomes remain on the table in Cedar Rapids, including selling off all or parts of the courses, privatizing management, raising fees, returning Jones Golf Course from 18 to nine holes and expanding services to generate more revenue.

A dozen privately-run golf courses and country clubs compete for golfers at a time when participation is on the decline and more courses are closing than opening. The four public courses see about 100,000 rounds total of golf per year, according to city data.

Selling 20 acres of Twin Pines Golf Course and shrinking Jones has been considered in the past, but wasn't adopted. Members of the Parks and Recreation Department and City Council have said their intent is to not sell the courses.

When plans to study the golf operation became public, several suggestions gained attention.

Owners of St. Andrews Golf Course in Cedar Rapids recommended privatizing the golf courses, raising rates, or possibly selling parts of Twin Pines and Ellis for development and turn flood-prone Jones to a park, so the city could cut its losses. The private courses are at a competitive disadvantage, they said.

Retired teacher and coach Jim Voss recommended making the system taxpayer supported, such as the subsidy heavy public pools. Mayor Ron Corbett, speaking on Simon Conway's radio program last month, floated raising fees per round by $3.50, split over two years, to cut the gap. Prices range from $23 to $45 for adults for 18 holes or $606 to $924 for a season pass. Corbett does not support hiring a consultant at this point, but said it may be appropriate in the future.

'That's less than 10 cents a hole,” he said on the program last month. 'The first thing we need to do is stop the bleeding.”

As is, the general fund has covered losses which averaged $350,000 in the three most recent fiscal years, and is slated to cover $298,000 in the fiscal 2016 budget.

'I'm not saying they need to be profitable, but we need to reduce the balance,” Pomeranz said, noting he would not be 'enthusiastic about adding it to the general fund budget” permanently. The city has been working to tighten its general fund, he said.

l Comments: (319) 339-3177; brian.morelli@thegazette.com