HARLINGEN — On the Tony Butler Golf Course, a growing sink hole is stretching about 10 feet wide, threatening to swallow the green on the 12th hole.
A few months ago, gushing underground water gouged open the hole before the Arroyo Colorado’s currents helped dig it wider, City Manager Dan Serna said Friday.
“It was a washout,” he said. “We had a line or some water infiltration that created a sink hole. With the Arroyo Colorado so close, it eroded additional earth so the sink hole got bigger. We have to improve drainage so runoff goes into the arroyo.”
On Friday, the sink hole helped underscore Serna’s sales pitch before members of the Harlingen Community Improvement Board agreed to fund the $1.2 million balance of a $3.1 million project aimed at turning the golf course back into a money-maker — or helping it pay for itself.
After about five years of planning, the board, funded through a one-eighth-cent sales tax earmarked to finance so-called quality-of-life projects, voted 3-1 to fund the $1.2 balance through future sales tax revenue.
Revenue stream
During a special joint meeting with city commissioners, Serna told board members the city’s $48 million general fund was limited to funding such projects as drainage upgrades and street repairs while the board’s fund balance was set aside to finance quality-of-life projects such as the golf course overhaul.
“What we need is a commitment so we can move forward with it,” he told board members, referring to the project.
In June, the board spent its last $1.8 million to help fund the $3.1 million project aimed at upgrading the golf course to help draw more players to the 92-year-old Rio Grande Valley icon running a deficit for about eight years.
Through 2023, the board’s money will stay in the bank, with its encumbered $6.25 million fund balance earmarked to finance the Lon C. Hill destination park’s $4.1 million second phase along with the $3.1 million golf course project.
Now, the city is planning to complete the destination park’s second phase in July 2023 while the golf course project is set for completion about six months later.
“We won’t be spending that money tomorrow. It will take a few months,” Serna said, referring to the board’s projects. “It takes time to design them, bid them and put it in the ground.”
By the time the board pays for destination park and golf course projects, its one-eighth-cent sales tax is projected to pump about $3.5 million worth of revenue’s back into its coffers, he said.
“Our sales tax has been pretty strong and it continues to come in strong,” he said.
Since 2010, the city’s annual sales tax collection has climbed from $18.1 million to $25.8 million last year.
Meanwhile, officials project sales tax revenues will double during the next 10 years.
The project
As part of the overall $3.1 million project, Serna plans to pump $264,000 into developing drainage in low-lying areas.
“The drainage is so critical or we’re going to lose that green,” he told board members, pointing to an overhead photo showing the sink hole. “We have to do it soon so we don’t lose that green — because that’s going to be expensive.”
Meanwhile, Serna is calling for a $1.9 million overhaul of the golf course’s old irrigation system along with a $575,575 upgrade of the grounds, aimed at pushing up the greens.
Officials are counting on the upgrades to draw more players to pull the golf course out of the hole.
During last month’s budget workshops, 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.
According to the report, the golf course has run annual deficits ranging from $419,713 in fiscal year 2015-2016 to $223,731 in 2018-2019.
After running shortfalls for about eight years, the golf course’s total deficit stands at $846,548, a report showed.
Consultant’s report
In 2019, officials paid $22,000 to hire the National Golf Foundation, a national golf consulting firm, to recommend upgrades aimed boosting revenue to help the course pay for itself.
In a 97-page report, the consultants recommended as much as $3.7 million to $7 million worth of improvements aimed at overhauling much of the golf course.
Recommendations included rebuilding or replacing “major infrastructure components of the 18-hole course — greens, irrigation system, bunkers, drainage” at a cost of $3.75 million, the report states.
“We recommend, at a minimum, replacing and/or upgrading all major infrastructure components, including greens, irrigation system, bunkers, drainage and tees.”
