St. Johns Golf Club in Elkton, Fla., which many residents do not know is funded by the county, is scheduled to have an operating deficit of $150,000 this year, according to numbers provided by the county commissioner. The 25-year-old club reports it has made cuts to break even, such as reducing staff and closing nine holes in May 2011.

If the St. Johns County government is going to continue to subsidize St. Johns Golf Club in Elkton, Fla., County Commissioner Bill McClure wants taxpayers to let him know that’s what they want, the St. Augustine (Fla.) Record reported.

McClure didn’t realize the St. Johns Golf Club was county-owned until he took office and began to study the budget. In meetings with the public, McClure said a lot of people don’t realize the golf course is publicly funded, and he’s trying to figure out whether it’s what the average citizen wants to do with his tax money, the Record reported.

“I’ll ask people and about 70 to 80 percent of them had no idea we even had a golf course,” McClure said. “I want to make sure the public is aware of it.”

According to numbers provided by McClure, St. Johns Golf Club is scheduled to have an operating deficit of $150,000 this year. That’s the best the course had fared in the last five years—with a total loss of $832,234 in the five-year span, the Record reported.

Wes Tucker, Director of Golf at St. Johns Golf Club, said the course is taking dramatic steps to get back to a break-even point. The facility is almost 25 years old and has limited revenue streams outside of greens and cart fees, Tucker said. The number of rounds played each year has dropped from a peak of more than 70,000 five years ago to about 45,000 now, the Record reported.

“We’ve had to try and make cuts due to the downturn in play,” Tucker said.

The two biggest cuts have come with the reduction in playable holes from 27 to 18 and changes in staffing. The course closed nine holes in May 2011. In the last two years, the full-time county staff has shrunk to six positions, while the rest of the work is done by a staffing agency. In the past, all the maintenance and clubhouse workers were county employees, the Record reported.

Because management can now cancel shifts or send people home when there are few golfers or when the weather makes the course unplayable, Tucker said the staffing is more cost-efficient, saving the course about $200,000 since implementation, the Record reported.

“It’s not in my nature to want to ask for money,” Tucker said. “I want the (tax) burden to be as little as it can be. But it’s not like we can just stop spending money on the product.”

McClure put out an open letter to county residents, asking what they think about paying for the golf course, among other things. The purpose, he said, was to “let me find out if this is still a priority for people of St. Johns County.”

To date, McClure said the response has been 42 percent in favor of subsidizing golf. Eventually, the county could opt to sell the property or lease it to a private company—or continue the current course, the Record reported.

“I don’t think there’s any imminent change,” he said. “All options are on the table.”

Tucker wants to make clear are the benefits to the community of a public golf course, the Record reported. “Public golf definitely has a place in most healthy communities,” Tucker said. “I think it has a big value.”

The club allows two high school golf programs and a middle school program to use the facility, playing host to various amateur tournaments and offering beginner’s clinics. The club also maintains the nearby three-hole course for the First Tee of North Florida, which is a nonprofit organization aimed at teaching children about golf and character, the Record reported.

“We feel really great about introducing people to the game,” Tucker said. “I think public golf courses are feeders for the private clubs.”

With a current rate of $32.50 per round for county residents and $37.50 for nonresidents, St. Johns Golf Club’s prices are competitive with the other courses in the county, the Record reported.

The course is not in perfect shape, but Tucker said the greens are much-improved and that players are complimenting the course conditions. “I think our product in the last two years has gotten better and better,” Tucker said.

McClure said it was important for him to raise awareness about a recreation venue that has been costing the county money, and he’ll support continued funding of the course if his constituents tell him they want that, the Record reported.

“No. 1, it’s not a core function of government,” McClure said. “No. 2, it continues to operate at a loss, and taxpayers should know what their money is going to.”