Mayor Peter Corroon is yanking the free green fees enjoyed by 11 members of Salt Lake County's golf advisory board.

Call it the price of reform as county officials - eager to climb from the shadows of last year's vehicle-abuse and hiring scandals - seek to slice government perks.

County officials also are trying to help the county's golf fund dig out of a $2 million hole. They pin most of the blame for that red ink on the $16 million the county paid to buy Draper's South Mountain Golf Club.

Corroon has created a task force - separate from the golf advisory board - to find ways to land the county's six courses in the black and wipe out the deficit within four years.

"We've just got to find a way to close that [deficit]," said Doug Willmore, Corroon's chief administrative officer, noting that some of the advisory board members play up to five rounds a week - at no cost. "We're going to end that."

The board, created in 2002 by former Mayor Nancy Workman, has increased from three members to 11. County Councilman Randy Horiuchi and lobbyist Spencer Stokes, a former state GOP executive director, were added to the list within the past several months.

"I actually haven't enjoyed a [free] golf round," said Stokes, who agrees that perk should be spiked.

"The county should not be going into debt for that."

Willmore says the new task force could be similar to Corroon's fleet panel, charged with ensuring that last year's vehicle abuses do not resurface.

One plan to boost the golf fund calls for selling county-owned Meadowbrook Golf Course. The 18-hole Murray course, Willmore explained, has more than 60 additional acres that could interest a developer. If sold, the extra land could earn the county an additional $10 million.

"We're going to explore the feasibility of it," said Chris Crowley, director of community services. "But once we commit and move forward with something like that, we can't go back."

Willmore says another idea is to sell land for underground parking near South Mountain and allow a developer to build condominiums above it.

But Crowley says Corroon's task force - a 20-member group that includes residents, members of the mayor's Cabinet, staff from parks and recreation and the auditor's office along with council members - should concentrate on marketing the county's existing amenities by attracting more golfers for the courses and events for the clubhouses.

"We're not going after anybody or trying to exploit the deficiencies," Crowley said. "One of the things we're going to explore is if South Mountain is the big albatross."

A county audit released in 2001 suggested it is. Despite slashing the price of an 18-hole round (with cart) from $80 to $45, South Mountain - with its scenic but windy views - produced roughly 30,000 fewer rounds than projected that year.

Councilman Mark Crockett, like any golfer, wants to shave numbers at all six county courses.

"I don't know that it's about a bunch more marketing," he said. "I doubt that."

Crockett, a member of the task force, says the county needs to look at golf with a "clean slate."

"It has been suggested to me that at some of our courses, we're providing country club services and charging public course costs."

djensen@sltrib.com