Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
The Evesham Township Council will hold a special meeting Nov. 23 to decide whether to privatize management of Indian Spring Country Club, the municipally owned golf course, which is awash in debt.
The council called the meeting after hearing details of three proposals during a 41/2-hour public meeting Tuesday night.
The council must reach a decision before Dec. 2, the deadline to review bids from the private companies.
Privatizing is one of the ways Evesham is considering to ease heavy debt service, which shot up from $79,896 in 1995 to $829,439 in 2003.
"I think we've proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the council is not qualified to manage a golf course," said Mayor Gus Tamburro, who favors privatization.
The differences in the proposals presented Tuesday were stark.
One firm, Billy Casper Golf Management, would charge a fee to run the course. The other firm, The Links, would lease the course and pay the township. Indian Spring's current management would cut expenses through layoffs, a move the two firms said they would try to avoid.
"We're not going to pull up in a bus with a whole new set of employees," Peter Hill, head of Billy Casper Golf, told the council. "Everyone will be given a chance to join our team."
Billy Casper Golf proposed charging Evesham a $90,000 annual fee and paying the township 80 percent of any revenue that exceeds $1.5 million. The township would retain control of the course, including setting fees and membership structure.
The company manages 46 golf courses - 37 of them municipal - in several states. In this region, it manages McCullough's Emerald Golf Links in Egg Harbor Township, N.J.; Cranbury Golf Club in the Princeton area; and Lederach Golf Club, scheduled to open next summer in Lower Salford Township, Montgomery County.
Ed Quinn of The Links, who also manages Centerton Golf Club in Elmer, N.J., offered a graduated five-year lease, paying the township $225,000 the first two years, $250,000 the third, and $275,000 the last two years. The township also would receive 25 percent of revenue exceeding $1.3 million, the revenue Indian Spring generated in 2003.
If Evesham makes a deal with either firm, it would be for three years, with two option years, and would be for the golf course and driving range only. The clubhouse and restaurant are managed by an independent caterer, Amici Restaurants.
Township Manager Ed Sasdelli made the presentation on behalf of Bill Torlucci, Indian Spring's business manager and head pro. Sasdelli gave the council four options, among them laying off four of the club's 10 full-time employees. That would save $165,000 in salary and benefits.
Other municipal jobs would be found for laid-off workers if vacancies existed, Sasdelli said.
"The numbers we can provide are very competitive," Torlucci said.
The golf course's financial woes stem from loans made to fund capital projects started in the late 1990s, including the $4.4 million clubhouse. Surplus funds were not available to ease the strain because $2.65 million was pumped into the budget over several years in the 1990s to hold the line on taxes.
Last year, the council had to make a one-time loan from its open-space fund to help pay the debt. To avoid raising taxes this year, the council reduced the debt to $650,377 by canceling $477,000 in bond ordinances, saving $150,000 through job cuts, and negotiating a prepayment of $247,000 on a lease extension from the independent Municipal Utilities Authority.
It also adopted a restructuring plan that cuts the annual debt service to a little more than $350,000 in 2005 and requires reduced payments for an additional five years.
"We were in deep trouble," Tamburro said. "Now we can escape."
Torlucci was credited by several people, including representatives of the companies, for turning the golf course around this year. Under Torlucci, revenue through the first six months was $761,000, up from $585,000 over the same period last year, and is projected at $1.5 million for this year.
Roughly 41,000 rounds of golf were played during the first 10 months this year, exceeding the 36,634 for all of last year.
"Now we'll see what they're going to do," Torlucci said.