Niagara Falls City Council members have balked at a proposal to privatize the Hyde Park Municipal Golf Course.
Lawmakers voted unanimously at their meeting Wednesday to table a measure that would have handed off operations to a yet-to-be-formed corporation that City Administrator Nick Melson described as members of the Hyde Park Golf Club, a local group that currently oversees tournaments at the course.
Under the proposed agreement, the city would subsidize utility costs at the course in decreasing amounts over five years, ranging from $60,000 to $20,000. According to City Controller Daniel Morello, the city has on average annually lost about $300,000 on golf course operations in recent years.
After expressing confidence in the plan last week, Councilman Kenny Tompkins told Melson that he needed to see detailed financial statements from the group before transferring course oversight from the city. Tompkins said he had given the proposal additional consideration after his initial reaction.
“I am not against privatizing the golf course,” he said. “I just want to make sure it goes to something with the financial wherewithal to operate it.”
In addition to financial concerns, Councilman Bill Kennedy questioned whether the privatization of the course – which he said he does not oppose – would result in the layoff of city workers.
Following the vote, Melson said the hesitation caught him off guard. The only skeptical lawmaker before Wednesday’s meeting was Councilman Ezra Scott, Jr., he said.
The city administrator said Wednesday’s decision creates its own set of concerns. If the delay causes the group to pull its proposal, he said he would entertain not opening the course for this year’s season.
“I don’t feel that it is fiscally responsible to throwaway $300,000 on golf course operations when we have a deficit and we have the concession agreements from our public sector unions,” he said.
Tompkins said, even if the group did pull its offer, another of year of municipal operation was not off the table and a delay would be worth ensuring the operator would be properly vetted.
The proposal, if it stays intact, will likely come before lawmakers again at their next meeting early next month.
Melson said the decision represents another measure proposed by the administration on the advice of financial oversight bodies that has been rejected by lawmakers, saying property reassessment and an additional municipal fee for garbage collection were among them.
“This is yet another example of the administration putting forward a recommendation of the (state) Financial Restructuring Board and the (former city sanctioned) Financial Advisory Panel and the city council being unwilling to act on it,” he said.
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