The financial situation for Winnipeg’s four city-owned golf courses is not getting any better, according to a new report at city hall.
The Golf Services Special Operating Agency will discuss its 2017 business plan at a committee meeting Friday.
To help pay off a line of credit that reached $7 million in 2015, the agency will get a transfer of $462,000 from the city’s General Reserve Fund this year. That number will be $750,000 starting next year, but even still the agency doesn’t expect to pay off its deficit by the original target date of 2024.
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“I’m open to looking at how we can better use the green space. I’m not in favour of reducing the green space,” Mayor Brian Bowman explained.
“I love to golf, but if there’s other opportunities for better uses of the green space, I’m open to that discussion.”
In 2016, there were nearly 5,000 fewer rounds played at Kildonan Park, Windsor Park, Crescent Drive and Harbour View than in the previous year, a decrease of 6.2 per cent.
Those numbers are part of a not-recent trend of fewer people using the city’s courses. In the report, the agency notes that there are 50 courses within a 70 kilometre radius of Winnipeg, and that financial struggles are not unique to the city’s four courses.
“The current Winnipeg golf market is over saturated with golf courses whereby supply exceeds demand. In recent years this over supply has resulted in the closure of one golf course and another being scheduled to close in 2018,” the report reads. “Most other golf courses are currently adjusting their operating models to remain solvent.”
To help deal with operating losses, green fees at the four city courses went up by a dollar this year. According to information in the report, despite lower operating costs than in previous years, only Kildonan Park made money in 2015.
City golf courses net revenue:
- Kildonan Park: $168,238
- Windsor Park: $80,861
- Crescent Drive: $62,995
- Harbour View: $128,295
But the mayor admits there’s no plan on the table to close any of the courses.
“It isn’t a priority of mine, and I’m not currently working on anything in that regard, but I’ve had discussions with some members of council on the idea of, ‘Is golf the best use of the green space?’ We’re not advancing any plans to move forward with changes at this time, but I think we should be open to it.”