By Alex Gary - September 9th 2024

 

BELOIT

The City of Beloit is seeking bids to see if it’s more efficient to hire an outside company to run Krueger-Haskell Golf Course.

Companies interested in managing the golf course that first opened in 1927 as a 9-hole course and was expanded to 18 holes in 1931 have until Oct. 2 to submit proposals.

City officials floated the idea of hiring outside management in June.

Since 2014, the city has given the course an annual subsidy of $50,000 with hopes that the course would make enough money to cover that cost. From 2014 to 2022, Krueger-Haskell only made enough money once to cover the subsidy. In 2021, Krueger-Haskell had $502,671 in revenue including the subsidy versus $425,038 in expenses for a net profit of $77,633.

In 2022, the last year that final numbers were available through Beloit’s public documents, Krueger-Haskell had $491,425 in revenue with the subsidy versus $463,788 in expenses. Without the $50,000 from the city, the golf course would have lost $22,363.

The four stated goals of the request for proposal are:

  • To reduce or eliminate cash and personnel subsidies from the city.
  • Grow revenue while minimizing rate increases.
  • Limit or reduce expenses through professional management.
  • Increase marketing to increase season pass and daily round sales.

Municipal golf courses are run in a variety of ways. The city of Madison operates its four golf courses with no outside contracts. Milwaukee County has golf professionals who run the clubhouses and lessons for its courses, but the county handles maintenance. In 2011, Janesville hired Chicago-based Kemper Sports to run its two city golf courses — Riverside and Blackhawk.

In general, running golf courses has become a money-losing venture for cities. In 2021, the Reason Foundation, a libertarian leaning organization in California that is against any kind of government assistance, studied 221 local governments and found that 155 of them lost money on operating golf courses.

The fact that Beloit is seeking bids to change management at the golf courses doesn’t necessarily mean change will happen. The city sought bids to outsource golf course management about 10 years ago and decided to have the city continue to oversee operations.

City officials will review proposals and make recommendations to the golf committee on Oct. 16. The recommendation then would go to the city council on Nov. 4.