Westwood's in the rough

Ellen Jacobsen would be willing to pay an extra $2 for each round of golf if it would save the Westwood Heights Golf Course.

The nine-hole course is compact and easy to get around, making it ideal for an older golfer such as Jacobsen.

“I can walk this par-3 course,” Jacobsen said. “That's important to me.”

Two Omaha City Council members offered a plan Monday to boost fees at Westwood, near 132nd Street and West Center Road, as an alternative to Mayor Jim Suttle's proposal to close the course.

Council members Franklin Thompson and Jean Stothert said they think golfers would support an immediate increase in fees at Westwood, which loses money every year.

But Westwood is only part of the financial challenge posed by Omaha's public golf courses. As a group, they have amassed $760,000 in losses over the years.

A $2-per-round increase at Westwood could help. Based on last year's course attendance, higher fees would more than cover Westwood's losses in 2008.

But the Suttle administration estimates that the course's losses will climb this year and next. By 2010, a $2-a-round fee increase might bring in only a third as much money as the mayor hopes to save by closing the course.

Without those bigger savings, the problems in the city's dedicated golf fund will most likely spill over into other parts of Omaha's already tight budget.

For now, taxpayers don't subsidize golf operations. But if the golf fund continued in the red, they would have to.

“We cannot have a deficit in the fund this year or next year,” said Carol Ebdon, city finance director. If golf losses continued, she said, auditors would expect Omaha to shift budget money into the golf fund.

Suttle's chief of staff, Steve Oltmans, said continued debt in the golf fund would be considered a black mark against the city when it looked to borrow money. To find that extra money, the city would have to consider more cuts in services or more tax increases.

“I wish we didn't have to close any course,” said Steve Scarpello, the city's parks administrator, “but we've been watching this situation since the early 2000s — we've raised course fees three times in the last four years — and we finally had to make a decision.”

Westwood's fees were already increased $1.50 this year.

All four of the nine-hole courses that the city runs lose money and are propped up financially by the money made on the three city-run 18-hole courses. Use is down on all seven courses, however. Total rounds dropped 31 percent from 1999 to 2008.

Rounds declined about 33 percent at Westwood and one other nine-hole course, with business dropping even more sharply at the other two nine-hole courses.

Although the figures vary year to year, Westwood tends to lose less money than the other nine-hole courses while serving more golfers. The Fontenelle Park course has lost the most in recent years and has had the fewest rounds played.

But officials decided to put Westwood on the chopping block. Scarpello said the city considered the courses' locations, their historical importance and whether golfers in that part of the city have other options.

Fontenelle and Spring Lake courses are in larger parks that play a significant role in their eastern Omaha neighborhoods, he said. Public courses were created to provide an affordable alternative to country clubs, he said, and the need for affordable courses remains.

“You can't say there are a lot of (golfing) options in that part of the city,” he said.

Fontenelle's 2,530-yard course was laid out in 1911. Spring Lake, with 1,873 yards, opened in 1934.

Residents near the 1,246-yard Westwood course, which opened in 1970, have more access to other privately operated public courses, Scarpello said.

The Omaha area has about 30 golf courses open to the public; most are west of 72nd Street.

Though Westwood lost about $44,500 in 2008, city analysts project that it will lose $104,000 this year and $158,000 in 2010.

Officials did not provide detailed information about the surge in estimated losses. They did say, however, the estimates are based on conservative revenue assumptions and don't reflect this season's good weather.

The numbers assume a 40 percent increase in personnel costs and a 34 percent increase in other expenses between 2008 and 2010. The expenses also include capital improvements that officials said have been deferred for years.

If the city raised fees by $2 at Westwood, the course would collect an extra $50,000 a year, assuming that usage didn't decline.

Westwood now charges $8 on weekdays and $8.50 on weekends. By comparison, nine holes of weekend golf cost $8 at Milt's Golf Center at 64th and Q Streets. At Eagle Run, 132nd Street and West Maple Road, it costs $15.50.

Navy Cmdr. Todd Chipman grew up near Westwood Heights and learned to play golf on the course. Chipman, stationed at Offutt Air Force Base, estimated that he has played at Westwood more than 500 times. He holds the course record of 21.

“I would seriously want to know the business case analysis'' for closing the course, Chipman said.

Scarpello said the city plans to continue raising golf fees. In fact, next year's budget proposal envisions some fee increases at other courses in addition to the Westwood closing.

Council members say raising fees now at Westwood would give the city an idea of what the market would bear, as officials try to shore up the overall golf fund. Suttle plans to hire a consultant to study whether to privatize the city's courses.

The city is barred by state law from selling golf courses or other Omaha parkland, said City Attorney Paul Kratz.

Jacobsen, who plays in a weekly golf league at Westwood, wouldn't be happy if the course were closed and turned into some other park use, such as a disc golf course.

“It's a nice course that gets a lot of play,” she said. “There are not a lot of par-3 courses left, so I'd be very disappointed if they do close it.”

World-Herald staff writers Kevin Cole and Maggie O'Brien contributed to this report.

Contact the writer:

444-1114, paul.goodsell@owh.com

« Metro/Region

Share