Born in controversy, Oak Ridge's city-owned golf course is now paying its own way when it comes to day-to-day operations and is even returning money to the city's coffers.
For several years, the city has netted money after paying the $60,000 annual fee to Billy Casper Golf Management to run Centennial Golf Course, officials said Thursday.
Since the course opened in 1997, that overage returned to the city has totaled $325,000, city Parks and Recreation Department Director Josh Collins said.
The long-term debt for creating Centennial, now $6.6 million, remains a fiscal question mark for the city and its taxpayers.
Originally, Oak Ridge officials planned to use residential land sales of the remaining city-owned land around the golf course to pay off that debt.
After several stumbles and delays, that 278-acre tract, known as Parcel A, was finally sold in April for $1.7 million.
That payment will cover the annual debt load for the golf course for nearly 4 years, City Manager James R. O'Connor said.
After that, annual debt payments of about $500,000 will go back on the tax rolls until the debt matures in 2023.
Public opposition to the city-owned golf course and a subsequent lawsuit over it delayed its planned opening by two years.
During that time, six other golf courses opened within easy driving distance of Oak Ridge, Collins said.
"Knoxville has an over-saturation of golf courses,'' Centennial manager Ty Weller said. "There's a lot of competition around for this area and population.''
Before Centennial was built, the city estimated 47,000 rounds would be played there each year. The actual count is between 35,000 and 36,000 rounds annually, Collins said.
Weller said Centennial is marketed as a course "more in line'' with the rolling East Tennessee terrain than several of its competitors.
Collins said developers' plans to build hundreds of homes around the golf course should also boost use of Centennial.
Source: Knoxville News-Sentinel (Tennessee)
