Searching for answers
Idea to pull dollars from cultural center for golf course stalls

A golf cart sits at the Ontario Golf Course. Club manager Mark Copley is requesting funds to purchase at least 20 more used golf carts because, currently, the Ontario Golf Club has only five working golf carts available to rent to customers, which Copley said is cutting into revenues that could be made from golf cart rentals. Golf cart replacement is the top priority at the golf course and poses a funding dilemma for the City of Ontario, which has an obligation through its contract with the golf club to pay for equipment upgrades.

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However, that money was never redirected elsewhere by the council, and, in 2000, the elected board approved increasing the TOT 1 percent to go to FRCC for a period of five years. When that term expired in 2005, the council directed the old 1 percent to go toward the Aquatic Center and raised the amount collected from hotels and motels 1 percent — in the form of a transient lodging tax — to be directed to the Four Rivers Cultural Center.

Kee said he did not know why the original 1 percent TOT created in 1994 was never redirected to parks and recreation after the three years concluded, and neither he nor Ontario City Recorder Tori Barnett could find any legislation amending the original 1994 ordinance.

 Funds from the TOT also are directed to the city’s general fund for street maintenance, the Chamber of Commerce and the Visitor and Convention Center.

When the topic was initially presented, the council was pondering redirecting half of 1 percent from FRCC to the golf course. Ontario Finance Director Rachel Hopper said, according to the 2007 to 2009 biennium budget, FRCC was budgeted to receive $130,976 for a single year from TOT/TLT revenue. If the city were to direct .5 of 1 percent to the golf course, that would come to approximately $33,000 per year.

Kee, however, said last Thursday, FRCC director Glynna Day was not amenable to the city taking any FRCC funds to direct to the golf course, a sentiment reiterated by Hytrek.

 On the other hand, in the city’s contract with the golf course, Ontario assumes responsibility of setting aside funding for capital improvements. In the past, however, the city transferred money from the general fund mainly to pay for golf course rent to the airport and the irrigation system bond repayment, which will not be paid off until 2010. This biennium, Hopper said, the city set aside $243,000 from the general fund to the golf course, a portion of which went to purchase equipment and make upgrades and repairs.

Ontario Golf Club manager Mark Copley said the additional funding, approximately $32,000, paid for a new greens mower, which needed to be replaced, and operation costs, such as fertilizer and top dressing. The golf course, however, still has a number of other capital improvements that need to be made. The first priority is the replacing cart rental fleet, Copley said.  

“I’m down to five carts that are nearly 20 years old that aren’t very reliable at all,” he said.

When he put in for the request last fall, Copley said he indicated he could purchase 20 used golf carts, for approximately $40,000, or $2,000 apiece. The golf carts in the golf course “graveyard” are beyond repair, Copley said, and five golf carts are not sufficient.

“It’s a considerable loss in revenue for one,” he said. “Cart revenues are just a major source of revenue.”

Additional carts also bring more people in to golf, as well, adding to greens fee revenues, he said. Currently, if the golf course has a tournament, Copley said he has to rent golf carts from a Boise company at about $20 to $30 per cart, which costs the golf course money as well.

Copley said the golf course could be a considerable tourist attraction should it have the resources to make the improvements necessary. As it is, however, “it’s pretty tough right now.”

“I don’t see the course making it without the funding,” he said.

That poses a dilemma for the City Council because, even if the city opted to let the golf course close and turn the land back into “weeds and gopher holes,” the city would still have to pay for the irrigation system, and the city would be losing a considerable asset, Ontario City Councilman Bruce Tuttle said. Also, he said, that land could not be used for anything else because it’s owned by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Tuttle said asking FRCC for some of its hotel/motel funds is just a temporary solution until the irrigation system is paid off. Rather than forcing the issue with FRCC, or canceling the TOT/TLT agreement between the two agencies after giving six months notice — required in the contract — Tuttle hopes a “gentlemen’s agreement” between the city and FRCC can be reached.

“Well, it’s a big issue if they don’t willingly do it, and I’m not sure their budget will even allow it, however I think there needs to be some restructuring down there,” Tuttle said, adding he has questioned whether FRCC should take 2 percent of the 9 percent TOT/TLT revenues when others collect only 1 percent and the golf course does not collect any. He also debates whether FRCC was built for the city to continue to help maintain and operate after helping to build it. However, he does not envision the city taking aggressive action with FRCC at this point.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a fight,” Tuttle said. “I really don’t believe it’s going to come to a fight, and I think it’s going to come to a gentleman’s agreement.”

If not, the city will have to find the money from some place else to make the capital improvements at the golf course, he said, adding perhaps the revenue committee will help generate some long-term ideas.

“Hopefully, six months from now we don’t have this same issue,” Tuttle said. “You either have to get rid of things or you have to get more revenue, and there’s not a lot of citizens that would like to get rid of anything that I know of.”