Thursday, August 15, 2013

Why not sell the golf course?




By: Jonathan Gonia

I have been thinking after all the hype about the bond referendum, and maybe there is a solution. What if the municipal golf course was sold to pay for the pet projects of city council? I am sure that privatizing the golf course would bring someone in that would be interested in actually turning a profit. This way everyone comes out happy. The municipal golf course in an expense to taxpayers, that’s no secret.  Asheville had to come across this same decision a few years back and even they done the right thing and sold out. I think Councilman Charles Taylor has the right idea all along. Why should city taxpayers that don’t even play golf be forced to pay for those who do? We live in the middle of golf mecca. There are hundreds of great courses within an hour drive in any direction away from us. There is an abundance of competition between these golf courses in every category from the rates to the lays of the course. Is the City of Sanford in the golf business or in the business of running a city? It’s a sinkhole that we throw hard earned tax money in every year with no return. It’s time for that to stop and the logical idea would be to take the money from the sell to pay for their pet projects. No money is borrowed that the taxpayers are responsible for paying back and everyone wins.  All it takes is a little compromise.

1 comment:

mike bennett said...

Excellent idea...this would allow Sanford to cut its losses and move away from a business it had no cause to be in to begin with...this golf course is a perfect example of what happens when government runs a business....the course is not competitive with local markets, and it hasn't finished a fiscal year in the black in years...selling to a private buyer will open the course to private investors, which will doubtless render the course much more competitive and therefore draw better profits....profits the city would love to get their greedy paws into....

Post a Comment

Comments are welcome as long as they are civil and on the topic.