2015-06-02_PR Comm Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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“The funds for the debt retirement came from city reserves and resulted in substantial interest savings of $832,180, the largest savings the city has experienced in calling a debt issuance,” said city spokesman Jason Egerstrom. The course’s “key performance goal,” he said, “is maintaining a 20 percent or greater annual operating profit. The course has exceeded that goal for three straight years: 25 percent in 2012; 22percent in 2013 and 25 percent in 2014.” Staffing got slimmer with the loss of a general manager position. The cost of play dropped: Fridays, weekends and holidays after noon went from higher weekend rates to lower weekday rates. Memberships in the Royal Club, which offers greens fee discounts, were reduced for Woodbury residents. Memberships jumped from 332 in 2011 to more than 500 in the following three years. A club card is $90 for residents and $110 for nonresidents. It pays for itself after five rounds played in a season. “With the Royal Club membership,” Moris said, “you can ride \[play while riding a cart instead of walking\] for 38 bucks. That’s attractive to people.” ‘More inviting’ While the cost dropped, improvements were made to the clubhouse to give it a more luxurious feel. “We did an interior renovation. The carpet and painting had been there for 15, 17 years, ugly green carpeting, and we’ve made improvements,” Moris said. “That was important. “Those leather chairs you’re seeing have only been here for a year. It used to be just little tables all around. We tried to make it inviting. We want people to have a beer and a sandwich on our revenue side, so let’s make it inviting.” In retrospect, he said, the course opened at just about the worst time it could have —July 1998, as courses were opening across the region and supply began to outpace demand. After 9/11, he said, the corporate market crashed. Then the Great Recession hit. Between them, you saw a lot fewer expense-account Fridays. Now, coursesare closing all across the metro. In suburbs, municipal golf exists in a slightly precarious position: it’s considered enough of an elite amenity that cities are reluctant to oversubsidize it while turning away requests for funding of other projects or programs. Still, Egerstrom said, the debt buyout was considered to be a good decision. A task force decided that “the golf course is a valuable asset for the community —for recreation, quality of life and for the property values around it —and therefore was worth preserving and continuing to operate.” So far this year, rounds played are up 100 percent from the same period last year, mostly because of great weather, officials say. “The last three days,” Morissaid early last week, “Friday-Saturday-Sunday, we were pushing 700 rounds played. Typically, this time in May, it could be as little as just a couple of hundred.”