The 90-year-old Council Bluffs, Iowa property has lost money for several years in a row and Mayor Matt Walsh has started discussions with staff and the City Council regarding the hiring of a management company to operate the course and its Caddy’s Riverside Grille restaurant.
The City of Council Bluffs, Iowa is considering transferring management of Dodge Riverside Golf Club and its restaurant to a third party, The Daily Nonpareil of Council Bluffs reported.
Council Bluffs Mayor Matt Walsh said the course, combined with Caddy’s Riverside Grille, has lost money for several years in a row, and attempts to stop the losses have failed thus far, The Daily Nonpareil reported. Walsh said he’s met with golf course staff and the City Council to discuss the possibility of hiring a golf course management company to operate the course.
“We have to make a business decision to stem the losses,” Walsh said. “A small percentage of residents use the course. We have to make decisions for the whole city.”
The city-owned course was established in 1927, making it one of the oldest in the area, and underwent renovations in 1996, according to the Dodge Riverside website. The facility has been in the red since at least fiscal year 2014, The Daily Nonpareil reported.
Walsh said the course lost $310,000 that year and $305,000 in fiscal year 2015.
Before the 2016 season, Walsh said city officials met with golf course staff to devise a plan to bring down expenditures. The course eliminated a golf pro position and a maintenance worker position. The city also increased green fees by about $2.
Those moves led to improvements in fiscal year 2016, with the course increasing revenue by $28,000 while still losing $251,000, The Daily Nonpareil reported.
With less than a month left in fiscal year 2017, the course is projected to lose around $200,000, Walsh said, noting that revenue is currently down around $130,000.
“We’d like to get it to a place where there’s nominal loss, if not profitability,” Walsh said.
It’s unclear when the course last turned a profit, the mayor added, because of how the city’s Parks and Recreation Department accounted for revenues and expenses.
“I don’t know that we ever knew [that it was losing money],” Walsh said.
When he took over as mayor after the 2013 election he worked to make sure the department was specific in determining expenses and revenues at the course, “so we could compare them,” Walsh explained to The Daily Nonpareil.
“By the end of 2015, we knew we had a problem,” he added.
The city has hired a consultant to evaluate operations at the course, Walsh said. The consultant’s findings noted that salaries at the course are higher than what is typical, and that the food-and-beverage division could be more profitable, The Daily Nonpareil reported.
In July, Walsh said, the city will put out a request for proposals from golf course management companies on how they would operate the course and work to reduce losses and turn a profit.
If the city took that route, he added, the course’s employees could stay on as employees of the new company.
It’s unclear at this point how many, if any, positions would be cut, Walsh told The Daily Nonpareil.
“We don’t know,” Walsh said when asked if there would be layoffs. “They’d no longer be city employees.”
The move to private management would require City Council approval, The Daily Nonpareil reported, and Walsh said the changes wouldn’t take effect until the end of this year, after the busy golf season is over and the city’s contract with its current food-and-beverage provider expires. Attempts to reach that provider for comment were unsuccessful, The Daily Nonpareil reported.
Walsh praised the course’s employees while assessing the situation, The Daily Nonpareil reported.
“Great employees, great facility,” he said. “This would be a business decision. And it’s not a decision I take lightly. But we have to be a good steward of taxpayer money.”
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