Loveland City Council members and Loveland golfers spent more than three hours debating an update by city staff on city-owned golf courses Tuesday night.
The update focused on proposed fee increases for golfers at Loveland’s three city-owned courses and close to $2 million in proposed renovations to the clubhouse at The Olde Course.
Other major capital needs included $750,000 in proposed upgrades to the irrigation system at Cattail Creek and $1.25 million in renovations to the maintenance facility at The Olde Course.
All of the needs would be paid for out of the Golf Enterprise Fund, which is separate from the city’s general fund.
Much of the discussion concerned threefold to nearly fourfold increases in fees for seasonal passholders during prime season and peak times at Mariana Butte and The Olde Course.
The increases include a bump to $15.30 and $30.60 from $5 and $10 for nine and 18 holes at The Olde Course, and $19.55 and $39.10 from $5 and $10 at Mariana.
In response to questions by councilors, golf operations manager Mark Esoda said seasonal passholders play 25% of rounds and contribute 9% of revenue, which Ward III councilor Steve Olson cited as proof that passholders are already receiving unreasonably low rates.
“You guys got a good bargain,” Olson said.
Ward III councilor John Fogle was incredulous.
“By raising your rates (300%), I think you’re taking some terrible risks,” he said to applause from visitors.
Many Loveland golfers spoke up during the public comment period against the proposed increases for passholders, painting them as abrupt and excessive.
Local golfer and former Loveland mayor Gene Pielin warned that the rate hikes would lead to the demise of men’s golf associations in Loveland.
“You want to get rid of 50 years of history just like that?” he asked. “Who has ever heard of a (200% or 300%) increase? None of you would take that.”
He said the majority of golfers he communicated with would support some increases, but called the proposed rates unrealistically high, especially for deferred maintenance.
Pielin also said there was little communication between city staff and said Esoda met with local men’s associations only once in May.
“And he got talked to,” Pielin said. “Nobody likes a (200% or 300%) increase in one year for things that we’ve been waiting for 20 years, or 15 years, or 10 years to ever have happen.”
David Spangler said that quantifying the passholders as 25% of the course’s traffic and 9% of revenue diminished the real contribution that golfers made to the upkeep of the course.
“This makes me sick to my stomach,” he said. “Your job is to make this Loveland golf course for Loveland residents.”
Former council member and ex-Golf Advisory Board chair Daryle Klassen brought up the land that was donated for the courses and said the men’s and women’s associations were the source of the energy that created them in the first place.
Golf Advisory Board member Robert Walkowicz was one of a few who spoke in favor of the increases, saying that, while they should have been phased in gradually, they were necessary now to avert a revenue crisis for the fund.
“The increases were not done when they should have been done, or they were not done enough when they should have been done,” he said.
The council was still discussing the proposed increases at deadline. Because the item was a no-action item — public comment was allowed by a unanimous roll call vote taken at the beginning of the meeting — no formal vote was planned.
http://www.reporterherald.com/loveland-golfers-councilors-question-proposed-golf-fee-hikes
2019-09-18 04:32:47Z
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