Source: Fort Pierce Tribume
The Saints Golf Course (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) clubhouse must be rebuilt within two years for the city to take full advantage of its insurance policy.
The September hurricanes left the clubhouse unusable, and the city has received $113,857 in insurance reimbursements. If the clubhouse is rebuilt by 2007, the city's insurer will pay an additional $179,466.
Rebuilding could be a costly choice, forcing the city to refinance the golf course's $6 million debt, according to City Manager Don Cooper.
Additionally, course fees probably will cover operational costs, Cooper wrote in a Jan. 24 memo that, after refinancing, the course's debt service payments likely would have to come from the city's general fund.
However, considering the alternatives, Cooper's memo to City Council members stated that rebuilding was the best option.
The existing insurance money likely is not enough to repair the building adequately, Cooper wrote.
While rebuilding, Cooper suggested the city put all $293,323 of insurance money toward the course's debt service reserve fund, reducing the amount needed from the general fund.
"Simultaneously, it would allow the golf course to have the facilities it needs to operate without the uncertainty and operating inefficiencies of operating out of trailers for an extended period of time," Cooper wrote.
City Council will make a final decision in the coming months. Until then, golf course staff are working from a mobile trailer on the site.