Some members of council feel the numbers aren’t accurate when it comes to city owned golf courses.
At Large councillor Mark Bentz pushed back on Golf Services, in particular their Operating Budget Costs and Revenues.
The figures below report a projected total of $34,841 to operate the municipal owned golf courses (Strathcona and Chapples).
Members of council pushed back on in-direct annual costs, which totals approximately $210,000.
Also the capital budget of Golf Services, in recent years, has included $95,000 for equipment replacement/renewal and $30,000 for grounds maintenance.
Based on that math, Bentz feels the annual cost to operate is closer to $370,000 rather than $34,841.
“If you’re running a business you don’t just talk about your direct costs, you need to discuss things like your overhead costs and capital needs. We should report it as a business if we’re going to treat it as such,” remarks Bentz. “You have to have capital reserves or else you’re just setting yourself up for a very large expenditure in the future that isn’t financed.”
The conversation led to Charles Campbell, the Manager of Central Support Division, to weigh in on the councillor’s comments. Campbell does agree the numbers have to line up but cautioned if you eliminate municipal golf, that doesn’t necessarily mean a savings of $200,000 for the corporation.
“Under the provincial legislation for financial reporting, there is an element that reflects the fact that the General Manager, the City Manager and other departmental staff need to be charged out to all programs to some degree on a formula basis,” says Campbell. “There are elements of all of these costs that are consumable, but there are elements of those costs that would just increase the ratio of charges to other program areas.”
The Grant Thornton program and services review estimated a savings of $100,000 annually if both golf courses were closed.
