It’s time for the city to explore selling some of its golf courses
If unloading Chedoke could bail us out of our looming financial crisis, we at least need to consider it
There’s no question it’s been nice for golfers to have a choice of three municipal golf courses to choose from in Hamilton for decades. Lots of people learned to play on them, they’re still a relatively cheap round and their location is convenient for many.
Had things in 2020 been the same as they had been for years and years, it would be great to keep this going for decades to come. But in light of what’s going on, can we possibly defend keeping all three?
The short — and sad — answer is, probably not.
A few months ago, the city was contemplating the difficulty of dealing with a COVID-inspired deficit of something like $20 million. Roughly a month ago, that became $60 million. On the weekend, we learned it could become $120 million. This is money we have to pay back because municipalities are not permitted by law to
run operating deficits.
“It is horrifying,” Ward 9 councillor Brad Clark said the other day.
Despite that harsh assessment, it still might be an understatement.
Unless the provincial or federal governments bail us out, which is looking more and more dicey as the two sides — both of which have spent themselves into a lather — spar over who should step up, we’ll be left with just two options. We can have council tax the living heck out of everyone (think a doubledigit property tax increase next year) or it can start ruthlessly cutting programs and projects. Likely a combination of both. This on top of purging our reserves.
With those as our reality, how do we possibly defend maintaining three city golf courses? Courses that, according to Ward 1 Coun. Maureen Wilson, don’t make money, aren’t self-sustaining, have planned upgrades still waiting for funding, and aren’t seeing massive increases in usage that would lead to a conclusion that one day soon they will be profitable?
We simply can’t.
This isn’t an anti-golf position. It’s an anti-financial disaster position. It’s the same kind of painful choice you make when you cancel your vacation because you lost your job. You don’t want to but you know you have to.
So, it’s time to start gritting our teeth and looking into unloading some of them. With one caveat: We have to be sure that doing so improves our situation. Which isn’t as automatic as it might sound.
First of all, nobody should seriously suggest getting rid of King’s Forest since it is widely considered a gem and one of the top public courses in all of Canada.
That leaves Chedoke Civic with its Martin and Beddoe courses. The huge piece of land on which they sit would be prime real estate worth a fortune to a developer. The sale price could be enough to offset a huge chunk of the monstrous deficit we might be facing.
With a $3-billion infrastructure deficit on top of our current mess, every dollar is helpful.
Even better, not having to maintain the course would save the city money, private development there would increase the tax base, and not having these options would direct golfers to other open-to-the-public courses which would stabilize their owners’ businesses and ensure they’re paying taxes for years to come.
If those pieces can fall into place, it’s time for the city to be brave and make that hard decision to bite the bullet. Especially since the contract for operations expires at the end of 2021, so the timing is right.
Here’s where it gets tricky, though. Construction on part or all the land would require approval from the Niagara Escarpment Commission. That could be difficult to acquire. What if it isn’t granted?
The city could turn the courses into a public green space, though that would still require upkeep and cost the money while providing no infusion of cash or ongoing additional revenues. That wouldn’t solve the problem we’re trying to address. It could be turned it into a multi-use park. The trouble is, facilities and courts and whatever else people might want there would cost millions to build which would be the opposite of what we’re trying to do.
Unfortunately, neither of those likely improve on the status quo. Which would leave us needing someone to come up with a really creative solution. Or simply keep them as golf courses.
This can’t simply be about yanking out the tee markers and flags just because someone doesn’t like golf or thinks it’s elitist or wants to divert money to throw at other pet projects. This isn’t about finding new money to spend. It’s about saving us from that horrifying situation Clark describes. To do this, there has to be an upside. There has to be a saving for the city.
If that can’t be found, there’s no point in going through the exercise.
But if it can, then it’s time.