City: Municipal golf courses are self-supporting

  Over the years, the city of Yuma's municipal golf course has been weaned off subsidies and today is self-supporting with the exception of the debt service on the Putter's Inn clubhouse, say city officials.

  That, too, will end soon with the final payment of $234,000 to be made this year for the clubhouse at Desert Hills Municipal Golf Course.

  "The golf course pays for itself," said Greg Hyland, city of Yuma spokesman. "What it costs to run the course is what is brought in by fees."

  Arroyo Dunes Golf Course, which the city also operates, too is self-supporting, said Becky Chavez, director of the Parks and Recreation Department.

  Chavez explained that the city sets the green and cart fees based on the cost of operating the golf courses. "Then the private courses match us or undercut us," she said in response to the allegation that the city is unfairly competing with private courses.

  Basic winter fees at Desert Hills are $35 for 18 holes of golf or $48 with a cart, with discounts available. Fees are lower other times of the year when there is less demand, she said.

  Green fees at Arroyo Dunes are $20 for 18 holes, or $32 with a cart, she said.

  Of the only other two golf courses within the city of Yuma, one is operated by the Yuma Golf and Country Club for its members so the city isn't directly competing with it, according to Hyland. The club doesn't charge green fees for members. For non-members, the cost to golf there is $50 for greeen fees and an additional $12 for a cart.

  The other is the 9-hole public Ironwood golf course at 2945 W. 8th St., which is privately owned. Green fees there are $11 for the 9 holes, or $21 with a cart.

  Meanwhile, the fees and cart for 18 holes at Mesa del Sol Golf Course in the Foothills area range from $38 to $46, depending on the time of day.

  Historically, revenue from the 2 percent hospitality tax was used to subsidize Desert Hills, but the goal has been to make the course self-supporting, Hyland said. Over the years, the subsidy from the special tax has been reduced to the point where the tax revenue has been limited only to the debt service in recent years.

  Expenditures for both Desert Hills and Arroyo Dunes include the cost of greens maintenance, water, staffing, golf carts and such incidentals as golf balls, Hyland said. Additional expenses at Desert Hills include the golf pro and clubhouse maintenance.

  "There are a lot of benefits to having a golf pro," said Chavez. When he isn't out on the course giving instruction or conducting clinics, Rick Walton is in the pro shop selling golf clubs and other items, which brings in additional revenue.

  According to the city's current fiscal year budget, revenue from golf and cart fees and clubhouse revenue is expected to total $2.4 million for Desert Hills while the budget authority is set at $2.5 million.

  Pat Wicks, city financial director, explained the $100,000 difference by saying the budget is set a little high to allow for unexpected expenses.

  However, he said, "our experience is that expenses rarely, if ever, hit 100 percent of the budget. On average, it's 95 percent or less."

  Should expenditures exceed revenue, the golf course does have a carryover fund, he said. "We haven't used 2 percent revenue for operating costs for a number of years."

  There was a transfer of some 2 percent revenue to the golf course fund in 2005, he said. That was to restore funding to the course's operating fund that had been applied to the clubhouse debt service in 2003 in a belief that operations could also cover that expense.

  "That didn't work out," Wicks said.

  For Arroyo Dunes, expected revenue totals $285,000 for the current fiscal year while the budget is $247,500.

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Joyce Lobeck can be reached at jlobeck@yumasun.com or 539-6853.

Story corrected:   The green fees for the Yuma Golf and Country Club were incorrectly reported in a story in Monday's newspaper in a story about golf courses within the city of Yuma.  The club doesn't charge green fees for members. For non-members, the cost to golf there is $50 for greeen fees and an additional $12 for a cart.