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Country club asks city for financial bailout
K Kaufmann
The Desert Sun
Palm Desert Country Club could be on the brink of financial failure and is looking to the city for a bailout.
The club closed its nine-hole executive course last week, said Dave Simmons, a resident who also is the club's general manager. A second 18-hole course remains open.
“It's a matter of not being able to generate the income you need during season to get you through the summer,” he said. “Financially, we're on life support. It's at the point that the club can't meet its obligations.”
Club residents are concerned about the potential impact to property values and public safety if the courses are closed and not maintained.
“If this golf course is vacated, you have 27 holes,” said Connie Swanson, who lives at the club with her husband Gordon Swanson. “You can have the homeless, you can have gangs, you can have kids, you can have rodents. You can't have that much vacant land go fallow.”
Owners Randy Case and Larry Kosmont were not available for comment Monday, but club members have put forward two city-funded rescue proposals for consideration, Simmons said.
The city could buy 10,000 rounds of golf at $20 per round for a cash infusion of $200,000 per year for the next 10 years. City residents would then be able to play at the club for $25 a round. Current regular summer rates are $45 until noon and $35 after noon. Season rates are as high as $80 a round.
The second proposal centers on the city buying the club's nine-hole executive golf course and turning it into a public course, possibly for children and seniors.
So far, the reception from City Council members has been cool, despite a deluge of letters and e-mails from area residents.
City officials and residents are expected to consider the future of the club at a meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee for Project Area No. 4 Monday. The club is in that project area on the east side of the city.
Mayor Pro Tem Cindy Finerty said with the city facing its own financial crunch — a projected 13 percent drop in revenue for the coming fiscal year — Palm Desert Country Club may be facing some hard choices.
“The concern is how is that (helping the club) going to impact Desert Willow,” Finerty said, referring to the city's upscale golf resort on Country Club Drive, which is also feeling the pinch. “We have to ask ourselves, do we want to be in the business of bailouts?”
George Boal, who's lived in the area for more than 20 years, thinks the city should buy the club's homeowners association building on California Drive and turn it into a senior center.
“The name of the course (Palm Desert) should have a lot of meaning to the City Council,” Boal said. “If they let it go down the tubes and have tumbleweeds there, they'd be embarrassed.”
City officials also fear a bailout for Palm Desert Country Club might lead to more handout requests from other golf clubs in the city, many of which also have been affected by the down economy.
The National Golf Foundation estimates that as many as 15 percent of private country clubs in the United States are facing financial or membership crises.
http://www.mydesert.com/article/2009...NTPAGECAROUSEL
Country club asks city for financial bailout
K Kaufmann
The Desert Sun
Palm Desert Country Club could be on the brink of financial failure and is looking to the city for a bailout.
The club closed its nine-hole executive course last week, said Dave Simmons, a resident who also is the club's general manager. A second 18-hole course remains open.
“It's a matter of not being able to generate the income you need during season to get you through the summer,” he said. “Financially, we're on life support. It's at the point that the club can't meet its obligations.”
Club residents are concerned about the potential impact to property values and public safety if the courses are closed and not maintained.
“If this golf course is vacated, you have 27 holes,” said Connie Swanson, who lives at the club with her husband Gordon Swanson. “You can have the homeless, you can have gangs, you can have kids, you can have rodents. You can't have that much vacant land go fallow.”
Owners Randy Case and Larry Kosmont were not available for comment Monday, but club members have put forward two city-funded rescue proposals for consideration, Simmons said.
The city could buy 10,000 rounds of golf at $20 per round for a cash infusion of $200,000 per year for the next 10 years. City residents would then be able to play at the club for $25 a round. Current regular summer rates are $45 until noon and $35 after noon. Season rates are as high as $80 a round.
The second proposal centers on the city buying the club's nine-hole executive golf course and turning it into a public course, possibly for children and seniors.
So far, the reception from City Council members has been cool, despite a deluge of letters and e-mails from area residents.
City officials and residents are expected to consider the future of the club at a meeting of the Citizens Advisory Committee for Project Area No. 4 Monday. The club is in that project area on the east side of the city.
Mayor Pro Tem Cindy Finerty said with the city facing its own financial crunch — a projected 13 percent drop in revenue for the coming fiscal year — Palm Desert Country Club may be facing some hard choices.
“The concern is how is that (helping the club) going to impact Desert Willow,” Finerty said, referring to the city's upscale golf resort on Country Club Drive, which is also feeling the pinch. “We have to ask ourselves, do we want to be in the business of bailouts?”
George Boal, who's lived in the area for more than 20 years, thinks the city should buy the club's homeowners association building on California Drive and turn it into a senior center.
“The name of the course (Palm Desert) should have a lot of meaning to the City Council,” Boal said. “If they let it go down the tubes and have tumbleweeds there, they'd be embarrassed.”
City officials also fear a bailout for Palm Desert Country Club might lead to more handout requests from other golf clubs in the city, many of which also have been affected by the down economy.
The National Golf Foundation estimates that as many as 15 percent of private country clubs in the United States are facing financial or membership crises.
http://www.mydesert.com/article/2009...NTPAGECAROUSEL
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