HARLINGEN — Reopening the Tony Butler Golf Course’s nine-hole short course will tack about $390,000 to the city’s proposed $49.7 million general fund budget carrying a $1.3 million shortfall.
During a Thursday workshop, the city commission’s new majority called on City Manager Dan Serna to add the costs of reopening the short course to the proposed budget.
“I want to open up the executive nine,” Commissioner Rene Perez told officials.
Next week, commissioners are expected to vote on the short course’s reopening.
Meanwhile, Serna’s working to balance the proposed general fund budget that includes a cash reserve of $23.1 million, enough to run the city’s operations for 156 days, far more than the state-recommended 90 days.
Since last week, the proposed budget’s shortfall has swelled from $854,132 to $1.3 million.
To reopen the nine-hole short course closed in April 2020, Serna’s setting aside $390,000 to cover start-up costs, including $100,000 for the purchase of 20 golf carts, $75,000 to buy two mowers, $23,000 to upgrade greens and $131,000 to fund the positions of three full-time employees.
Serna is projecting the short course’s annual costs would run about $174,000.
To reopen the short course within 90 days would cost about $36,882, with $23,312 going toward repairing greens through a program of seeding, aerating, fertilizing and mowing along with $11,816 to repair irrigation sprinklers.
Morales requests city track numbers of golfers playing short course
Members of the commission’s majority are counting on the nine-hole short course, a favorite among Winter Texans and young golfers honing their putts, to draw more players to the golf course running in the red for about eight years.
During about an hour of discussion, Commissioner Frank Morales requested golf course General Manager Jeff Hart start tracking the numbers of golfers playing the nine-hole course along with the numbers playing the 18-hole course.
Report shows golf course running deficit
During Serna’s presentation, a financial report showed the golf course generated $666,986 while taking $983,470 in expenditures, leaving a shortfall of $316,484 during the current fiscal year.
Now, he’s planning to pull $268,706 from the city’s general fund budget to help offset the golf course’s current deficit.
According to the city’s report, the golf course has run annual deficits ranging from $419,713 in fiscal year 2015-2016 to $223,731 in 2018-2019.
Winter Texans key
From the audience, Tim Elliott, a member of the city’s Golf Course Advisory Board who owns Elliott’s Custom Golf, told commissioners the closing of the short course led many Winter Texans to stop playing the golf course.
The past commission’s decision to close the short course led 15 RV parks to cancel a season’s worth of league play, said Elliott, who puts the number of lost rounds at 10,320 from October to March.
Earlier this week, Elliott released his memo written to commissioners, stating the short course’s closure cost the golf course about $100,000 this year.
Background
Since opening in 1929, Tony Butler stood as Cameron County’s sole 27-hole golf course — until last year.
In April 2020, the city’s past commission voted to close holes 19 to 27 to cut maintenance costs while mulling the sale of a 30-acre tract running across holes 19 to 23, prime land along Interstate 69’s frontage road with an estimated value of about $5 million.
However, holes 24 to 27 have remained open for play.
At the time the past commission voted to close the short course, officials were counting on using the money to fund upgrades to the golf course as part a plan to draw golfers back.
But they turned up a decades-old city resolution restricting the land’s use to parks and recreation, City Commissioner Frank Puente has said, adding voters would have to decide whether the city could sell the land.
A year after closing the short course, Serna said the decision cut maintenance costs, taking two full-time jobs off the payroll.
