Source: The Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.)
As Charleston moves toward construction of a controversial tunnel that will allow golfers to travel under the highway dividing Charleston Municipal Golf Course, debate continues on the city's plan to loan nearly $1.1 million for the project with no interest and no repayment schedule.
Even tunnel supporters like Larry Shirley, a Golf Course Commission member and city councilman, are shocked by the project's $1.9 million price tag and worry that improvements to the course will be foregone in order to pay the city loan.
State transportation money will pay $823,000 of the project cost.
Councilman Robert George said he doesn't believe the golf course will make enough money to repay the city loan. Noting that the course had a net loss of $30,510 last year, he suggested this week that the city call the money a budget transfer and be done with it.
"It appears that over the last eight years the (golf course's) operating income has averaged $12,000, and I question how the golf course will repay $80,000 to $100,000 each year," George said, citing city financial reports.
Mayor Joe Riley and Charleston Finance Director Steve Bedard said they are confident the golf course will be able to repay the loan.
"I would hope that every year we will get $50,000, and our goal is to get between $80,000 and $100,000," Bedard said.
Riley said City Council could decide to reclassify the money loaned to the golf course as a budget transfer, but that's not his intention.
If the city contributed the money for the project rather than loaning it, that would lower Charleston's fund balance and potentially hurt the city's bond rating, Bedard said.
Riley suggested the Golf Course Commission could choose to raise green fees to help pay back the loan, but Shirley said he would fight any attempt at an increase.
Shirley said many golfers are upset that the course's revenue will go toward paying for the tunnel rather than improvements to the playing area.
They blame the state's widening of Maybank Highway for causing the safety problem the tunnel should fix. Golfers must cross the four-lane highway twice to play a full 18 holes.
Shirley said he believes the course will generate enough money to pay $60,000 to $80,000 toward the city loan each year, without an increase in green fees, but he has suggested that if the city receives any unexpected revenue, it could put some of the money toward paying the tunnel loan.
"I didn't mean for this to be a lightning rod, but I was trying to raise the point that we could have some other revenues coming in to the general fund," he said. "Quite frankly, this thing has become a small nightmare."
Michael Malone, who plays at the municipal course several times each week, said he will not use the tunnel anyway, and hasn't met one fellow golfer who supports its construction.
"There will be rats in it, there will be snakes in it, and I won't use it," he told members of council and the mayor Tuesday.