Paul Fraughton | Salt Lake Tribune Golfers finish a round of golf on the 18th green at the Cedar Hills Golf Club in Cedar Hills. Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Cedar Hills golf courses prove too costly for young Utah city

Cedar Hills » City has already spent nearly $10 million but continues to accrue debt.

By Cimaron Neugebauer

| The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Mar 17 2013 01:01 am • Last Updated Mar 25 2013 11:27 am

Cedar Hills » Rolling green hills, sand traps and pristine views once meant dollar signs for municipalities.

But now, with scores of golf courses crowding the state, some critics are saying the once-lucrative notion of a municipal course has become a financial sand trap even Mike Weir with his best pitching wedge couldn’t escape.

With millions of taxpayer dollars being bagged faster than grass in an industrial mower, many question whether cities today can afford to create and run their own golf courses.

—

Money pit » In 2001, Cedar Hills, a city of 10,000, narrowly voted for a taxpayer-owned golf course. Since then, the golf course has not made a profit. Financial data show it has lost nearly a half-million dollars each year since 2004 or about $4.3 million in operational costs and general bond obligation. In trying to make the project successful, city leaders have spent nearly $10 million.

In an attempt to be more transparent and shed Cedar Hills’ controversial past management of the golf course, the City Council recently opened up its budget to amend it. City Councilwoman Jenney Rees said taxpayers now will clearly see the city’s money trail.

"There is not any time, in our eyes, that the golf course is going to be profitable and not in need of a subsidy," she said.

Royce Van Tassel of the Utah Taxpayers Association says an analysis shows it’s "very clear municipal golf courses lose money" and cities "shouldn’t be in the business of business."

Van Tassel said the first step is to stop the city from bleeding money. "The longer the city operates it, the more the taxpayers take [the cost] on the chin."

—­­

Hole in one » While Cedar Hills hasn’t seen the projected success, others have shown that getting started 30 years ago helps. Smithfield’s Birch Creek Golf Course — noted by Golf Digest as one of the nation’s best municipal courses to play — finished with about $54,000 in the black in 2012.

But with three public golf courses in Cache Valley, Smithfield Mayor Darrell Simmons says competition is still fierce for the 30-year-old course, and it’s similar to running a farm: good weather — an uncontrollable variable — directly affects business profits. Sound money management and frugality helps, though.

Simmons says the course has been kept afloat by rarely buying new equipment if it can be bought used.

Cedar Hills, however, recently said repairing its carts would be too costly and instead is leasing new ones. At the first of the month, two semi-trailers delivered more than $20,000 worth of new golf carts.

In Salt Lake City, any new equipment would have been funded from the city’s golf enterprise fund, which is maintained with greens fees from the city’s nine public golf courses alone and has received no taxpayer money since at least 1920, according to city spokesman Art Raymond.

"Being in the business of golf is a question many cities continue to ask themselves," Raymond said, just like parks or trails that don’t bring in revenue but are wanted by residents.

While some cities can’t function without selling to the private sector, Salt Lake City has been able to find a balance.

"We are able to do it without creating an additional burden to taxpayers, and that makes it a success to us," Raymond said.

Salt Lake County, though, hasn’t seen as much good fortune.

Salt Lake County Chief Financial Officer Darrin Casper said that as recently as 2011 the countywide golf-course system subsidized courses with $1.4 million in tax revenues due to the recession. In 2013, the county plans on all six of its golf courses to break even on annual operational costs. It does, though, subsidize a portion of the courses’ bonded debt.

—

Next Page >

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

About Reader Comments

---

Reader comments on sltrib.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Salt Lake Tribune. We will delete comments containing obscenities, personal attacks and inappropriate or offensive remarks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. If you see an objectionable comment, please alert us by clicking the arrow on the upper right side of the comment and selecting "Flag comment as inappropriate". If you've recently registered with Disqus or aren't seeing your comments immediately, you may need to verify your email address. To do so, visit disqus.com/account.
See more about comments here.