Source: The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Okla.)
A private golf course management company hired by the city to lease and manage city-owned Crimson Creek Golf Club wants out of its 5 1/2-year contract before a year has gone by.
A recent letter addressed by Crimson Creek golf Director Andy McCormick to city recreation authority trustees asked that Millennium Golf Properties be relieved of course operations by year’s end.
Under the terms of a deal reached late last year and made effective Jan. 1, Millennium pays the authority a $2,500 annual lease in exchange for rights to maintain and operate the golf course as it sees fit. The contract is set to expire in mid-2009.
A $3 million business
“They pay the city $2,500 to operate a $3 million business,” said Mark Gallaway, a city councilman and an avid golfer. “I think they’re wanting a better deal for themselves, but I’m not sure how it can get much better.”
Gallaway said he fears the city might have to force Millennium to honor the accord through litigation if officials decide not to renegotiate its terms.
Under the contract, the city receives no income from the golf course unless revenue reaches $550,000. Gallaway said he doesn’t expect the city to receive any money back this year.
Fewer golfers playing course
Crimson Creek head pro Cory Twedell estimates between 20,000 and 23,000 rounds of golf have been played so far this year. About 25,000 rounds were played on the course last year, the year preceding the city’s new contract with Millennium.
Millennium officials had hoped to get closer to 30,000 rounds this year. Last spring, McCormick predicted 27,000 rounds this year, before unusually cool and wet weather settled in for the balance of the year.
He said other factors hamper the course’s ability to be profitable, most notably a small, makeshift pro shop and snack bar housed in a modular building.
City officials repeatedly have said no money is available to build a permanent clubhouse. Taxpayers already bear the burden of paying off the debt on the 18 hole municipal course.
El Reno voters approved a seven year, quarter-cent sales tax in June 2002 after the course was rebuilt on the site of the old nine-hole El Reno Country Club, which folded in 1997.
Annual bond payments of $267,000 to $295,000 expire in 2020, but the sales tax expires in less than five years.
City officials have said the sales tax, unless extended, just bought the city time. Records indicate Crimson Creek has been merely a break-even operation since reopening in July 1998.