A spokesperson for the school said the course is “revamping its business model” and expects to come close to breaking even in its next fiscal year. Cuts in administrative overhead and a reduced contract maintenance fee have helped to stabilize the financial picture, at least temporarily.
The University of New Mexico (UNM) Championship Golf Course in Albuquerque appears to have avoided being closed or sold at least for the rest of 2011, reports NewMexicoGolfNews.com.
“The Championship Course has been revamping its business model, and anticipates that it will come close to break even next fiscal year. There is no closure or sale at this time,” a University spokesperson, Susan McKinsey, said in response to an inquiry.
McKinsey’s statement followed a meeting of the UNM Board of Regents at which student tuition and fees were increased by 5.5 percent for the 2011-2012 budget year.
With the tuition picture made clearer, the regents were scheduled to meet again at the end of April to finalize details of the university’s budget for the coming year.
Sources familiar with the UNM budget process told the website that the financial picture for the course was improved after the university agreed to reduce the administrative overhead it charges the golf course and its maintenance contractor reduced charges for the coming year. The combination served to roughly balance out the golf course’s 2011-2012 operating budget, although the accumulated $4.6 million deficit that the course “owes” to UNM and that has been built up over its 40-plus-year history remains on the books.
Last last year, a budget-cutting task force reporting to UNM President David Schmidly recommended closing or selling the course as part of shedding other “non-core” functions of UNM, as a way to address what was projected to be a $28 million campus-wide deficit for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, which starts July 1.
It is likely that UNM will enlist an outside agency or golf management consultant such as the National Golf Foundation to perform an analysis of where the course fits into the market and what can be done to make it profitable, NewMexicoGolfNews.com reported.
After UNM “South,” as it was known for years, opened in 1967, the subsequent opening of Indian casino courses north and south of Albuquerque have cut into its customer base, and a decline in golf participation across the city was then hastened by the recession.
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