What we need is a new City Council

RE: articles in April 10 and April 13 issues of the Journal regarding auction of the Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club in Rio Rancho.

I have enjoyed living immediately behind the No. 5 green on the west course for nearly 20 years. My relationships with the (club’s) management and maintenance personnel have always been pleasant and productive, even though I gave up my membership years ago.

No business can survive when the cost of one of its major and vital necessities is increased by almost 500 percent — $0.47 to $3.28 per 1,000 gallons — as recently imposed by the City Council. The city plans another increase to $4.54 per thousand, an almost ten-fold increase from present. The council ignored a forewarning that such an increase could put the club out of business, and so it might. How better to destroy a business and to disserve the public?

A new owner will be faced with the same hostility and will need to make costly changes to make a profit. Future (2017) cost of irrigating the club has been estimated at $1 million, two thirds of its total operating expense.

I fear that one of the first changes a new owner will make will be to sell the west course to developers, which will have a negative impact on the adjacent property owners as well as the community. What other viable option is there to raise sufficient capital to pay for necessary course improvements and decrease operating costs than to sell part of the course?