Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
For the first time since Evesham bought Indian Spring Country Club (Marlton, N.J.) in the mid-1970s, the township will not be involved in the day-to-day management of the golf course on Elmwood Road.
Turning the course over to Billy Casper Golf Management and changing caterers at its $4.4 million clubhouse are the latest steps in an 18-month effort to rescue Indian Spring from debt service that rocketed from $79,896 in 1995 to $829,439 in 2003.
The management transfers for both operations, which are independent of each other, are scheduled to take place today.
Township officials believe the steps, which also include canceling bond ordinances, restructuring debt, and laying off employees, would allow them to avoid raising taxes to support the once self-sustaining facility.
There had been signs the course was making a turnaround before the township awarded Billy Casper the bid in November. Under Bill Torlucci, Indian Spring's head pro, who took over as business manager last year, Indian Spring generated $1.4 million in gross revenue in 2004. Township Manager Edward Sasdelli said 44,700 rounds had been played, a significant increase from the 36,634 the previous year.
"We were very satisfied with how things ended up in 2004, and we think [Casper] can make it better," Sasdelli said. "The intent was never to make taxpayers support the golf course."
This past year, the course, which in the mid-1990s pumped $2.6 million in surplus money into township coffers, had a deficit of about $150,000, with a debt service of about $550,000.
The hope, Sasdelli said, is that the course will generate a surplus before the debt service rises from the $500,000-to-$600,000 range to $1.2 million in 2013. The surplus money would be "squirreled away to take care of the debt service," he said.
The township will pay Virginia-based Casper $90,000 a year to operate Indian Spring. The township will get all revenue up to $1.5 million, after which Casper will receive 20 percent. Company representatives have said they can cut the course's operating costs from $1 million in 2004 to $840,000 in 2005, primarily by streamlining management.
Resident Charles A. Shipley, a golfer who has played Indian Spring and several Casper courses, said he expected to see Casper's signature "fast greens" and "fairways like carpet" at Indian Spring. The company manages 46 golf courses, 37 of them municipal, in several states.
"As far as I am concerned, there are no downsides with Billy Casper," Shipley said.
In terms of jobs, there is a downside.
The township once employed 14 full-timers at the course. "We were overstaffed. We didn't know it," Mayor Gus Tamburro said. Three have transferred, two have resigned, one has retired, and one has died.
Six of those remaining - Torlucci is being kept on - stand to lose their golf-course jobs. Sasdelli said they were being encouraged to apply for other municipal jobs, including in public works and recreation.
The deal with the new caterer does not seem as benign toward the township. Evesham officials believe the glitzy, two-story clubhouse, built in 1999, is at the heart of the debt service.
Glendora-based Marcos Inc. will pay Evesham between $10,000 and $12,000 a month in rent, less than the $14,000 paid by T.C. Foods, whose five-year contract expired Saturday. The township will get 5 percent of gross revenue over $1.2 million instead of 5 percent above $650,000.
"Financially, it is a bad deal," said Shipley, a financial planner.
The catering operation at Indian Spring grossed about $1 million in 2004. Sasdelli said he expected Marcos, which once provided food at the Merchantville and Pennsauken Country Clubs, to improve that figure with aggressive marketing.
"I'm very impressed so far by their ability to get events," he said.