Should Wicomico Shores Golf Course be privatized? The question has arisen because St. Mary’s County’s municipal golf course has been running an operating deficit for the past two years. A more than $1 million fund balance that was on the books as recently as Fiscal Year 2007 has disappeared. The number of rounds of golf played at the facility has been on a free-fall the past two years.
The operation is funded by fees and not from the county’s general fund. Part of the balance sheet problem is the fact that $800,000 of the fund balance was used to pay for a new $2.65 million clubhouse and restaurant in 2007. At that time the golf course was generating a $100,000 per year net profit and it was believed that would continue to help pay the $1.35 million borrowed for the project. It didn’t.
Director of Recreation and Parks Phil Rollins blames the economy. “It definitely coincides with the recession,” Rollins told the county commissioners during a briefing on Tuesday. But then he added, “Golf is down nationally because of the recession.”
Based on a February 8 request from the county commissioners to consider privatization options, the Recreation and Parks Golf Advisory Board looked at several options, including keeping things as they are, just privatizing the restaurant or privatizing the whole operation. The advisory board held a public meeting on the issue on March 10. There was no support for privatization from either the board or the members of the public who attended the meeting.
At the commissioners’ April 5 public forum, eight people also spoke about the issue and several supported at least partial privatization. Jerry Slagel, a new member of the advisory board, suggested contracting out the pro shop and restaurant. He did praise the county maintenance employees and said that operation should remain under county control.
Former County Commissioner Shelby Guazzo, however, said ramped up marketing of the facility is the answer. She said her daughter recently held her wedding reception there. She said guests attended from 14 states and were uniform of their praise for the facility. “It needs to toot its own horn,” she suggested.
Several of the speakers belong to a 40-member seniors group that plays there three times a week all year. One of them, Dana Guy, said that some of the prices charged are too high for the blue-collar people who play at Wicomico Shores. He did, however, ask that the current operation remain.
Advisory Board Chairman Roger Richardson told the commissioners at Tuesday’s regular meeting that the golf course and clubhouse are heavily used by non-profit organizations that depend on the revenue generated by fundraisers there. He said the experience at other facilities is that when privatized, the cost to the non-profits to hold events becomes prohibitive.
Rollins told the commissioners that some of his operating budget has historically been charged to the golf course. During the public forum, Hollywood businessman Jim Hodges wondered if that was fair. His suggestion: “cut administrative costs or increase the marketing eff
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