City offers ideas to get golf courses out of the rough
A break-even strategy will be presented this week to council’s community and protective services committee, aimed at getting the city’s public golf course revenues and expenses back to par by 2022.
City administration recommends fee hikes, services being contracted out and an increased standardization of operation practices, among other plans, as means to dig municipal golf courses out of a $1-million hole.
But the biggest boon recommended in the city’s golf course operations update is the reopening of the McCall Lake course, which is on target for May of next year after a $6.7-million capital investment. That could yield $280,000 by 2022, according to the city report.
McCall Lake was nearly shuttered in 2014, a plan that faced heated opposition. That plan was halted after research determined the land sale would not have netted the $35.4 million necessary to help fund other city-run courses and create new recreation fields for northeast Calgary.
The course lost $457,350 in 2015, $666,162 in 2016 and $589,336 in 2017.
The report highlights an anticipated $100,000 in revenue from annual fee adjustments and $185,000 from more efficient booking processes and advanced pricing strategies, which are expected to lead to higher attendance starting in 2021.
Cost savings to be realized through finalizing debt commitments would also yield an anticipated $142,000, and an increased standardization of operation practices between golf courses could bring in $273,000.
The city could gain an additional $20,000 by contracting out select services, according to the recommendations. Critics such as the Canadian Taxpayers Federation have called on the city to sell off municipal golf courses after a Freedom of Information request by the group showed the six courses lost a combined $2 million between 2015 and 2017. The only city-run golf course to turn a profit each year was Shaganappi Point, which earned a positive return between $261,336 and $470,821 over the three years.
“I think anytime we can look at being efficient, we should look at it first and foremost, and then I think we have to look at whether or not we should be in that business,” said Coun. Shane Keating.
“If a company owns seven restaurants and six are doing fine and one is not doing fine, then the company tends to close the one and keep its six. We may have to look at that. If, like McCall, we can’t break even no matter what we do, then do we keep it or do we actually close it down and just use it as parkland?”
Keating said it may be time for the city to look at other operation models, such as owning the golf courses but enlisting a nonprofit to manage them, similar to arrangements it has with groups such as the YMCA.
“The city has to decide what type of recreation we’re willing to operate and which ones we’re willing to, you might say, subsidize to make sure that it’s there.”
Coun. George Chahal said the city should review the level of demand for each of its courses and whether it needs as many as it currently owns.
“I think there’s some golf courses that we may need to look at for other revenue sources and to see how can we also use them throughout the winter months,” he said.