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���• '',� <br /> a"�„ . . . . . . <br /> ����... � .; .� . � . � � .. . . � .. � . .. '�� - . <br />,��x , <br /> . . . . . .. <br /> � � ' <br /> �.�,� . . .. - .. � . . � .. � ' ': .. <br /> TO: City Council <br /> FROM: James Cosby, City Administrator <br /> DATE: March 8, 1974 <br /> SUBJECT: City Operations of Enterprise Funds (Golf Course - Ski Tonka) <br /> Attached to this memo is another memorandum from Dick Benson which <br /> generally addresses itself to many of the problems that we face on <br /> the golf course. The two key words in his memo are, "restoring"' and <br /> "status quo" . These two words really represent the issue that is before <br /> the Council - do we want to spend the time, the money and the effort <br /> to put the golf course into grade A number 1 shape, or do we wish merely <br /> to continue to hold it together with baleing wire and attempt to preserve <br /> it more as an open space in the City than as a golf course? <br /> The physical out lay of the golf course is not conducive to a lot of <br /> play. As all of you are aware, you tee off on one hilltop and the <br /> green is on another hilltop. The approach shots to the greens are all "� <br /> blind shots. In other words, you can generally not see the green that <br /> you are shooting at once you are in the fairway. I also feel that we <br /> are approaching the maximum number of players that we can handle on <br /> the golf course given its existing condition. In Mr. Benson' s memo, °` <br /> he does mention the fact that the number of golfers have increased from <br /> nine to twelve thousand per season. One of the things you must consider, <br /> is that with additional people on the golf course, the maintenance <br /> increases. Your qreens, for example, are simply leveled out places <br /> on the hilltop. There is no gravel or sand or any depth of top soil <br /> on those greens, which one normally finds in a well constructed green. <br /> Mr. Benson and Z have both agreed that should the total playing capacity <br /> reach thirteen thousand five hundred in a year, that we would be at a <br /> maximum maintenance program. The course would take a terrible beating <br /> with that many players and its upkeep would be extremely more expensive <br /> and costly than it is now; therefore, even with new players bringing <br /> additional revenue to the golf course, the increased cost of maintenance <br /> exceeds the increased revenue. <br /> This bothers me a great deal for I know that when the Council made the <br /> decision to buy the golf course, they told the public that public funds <br /> would not ever be used to support the golf course. This, in fact, has <br /> not been the case. With every year that the golf course has been in <br /> operation, with the exception of last year, the golf course has gone <br /> in debt and the only way that a debt in an enterprise fund can be <br /> corrected is to take monies from the General Fund of the City itself. <br /> As you can see, in reality, public funds have been used to offset deficits <br /> in the golf course operation. <br /> '� <br />