Residents call for private management of golf course

In what has become an annual debate, the St. Mary Parish Council once again heard calls Wednesday to seek proposals from private management companies for Atchafalaya Golf Course at Idlewild.
Since opening in in September 2005, the public course has continued to lose funds each year.
Budget figures for 2015-2016 presented Wednesday by golf commission chairman Rudy Sparks predict a $1,451 net profit. Similar bottom line projections in years past have actually become losses by the end of the fiscal years. For instance, the bottom line for the current fiscal year that ends in September is currently showing a $148,422 deficit and losses in 2014 were $224,732. The deficits are covered by grants from the parish council which also repays around $200,000 in annual golf course construct bonds.
Figures presented by Sparks Wednesday show that the course typically pays about $90,000 in annual sales taxes to the parish.
Sparks also presented the results of a study conducted by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette that indicated the golf course has an annual $5 million economic impact on the parish.
The course is being increasingly used by local high school golf teams as well as by charitable organizations for fundraising tournaments, Sparks said. It also hosted a Nicholls State University tournament this spring that brought in eight collegiate teams and 12 teams have committed for the 2016 tournament.
Residents calling for private management of the golf course in an effort to stop the loss of public funds included Terry Guarisco and Charles Cullotta.
Parish Councilman Glen Hidalgo who has called for the same in the past three years, said he would now instead be introducing an ordinance amendment at the next parish council meeting that would allow the parish administration to seek RFPs with majority approval of the council. The item would be an amendment to the ordinance that created the golf course commission.
Sparks explained that the golf commission has considered private management and even spoke with one consulting company.
He said such firms can charge anywhere from $80,000 to $125,000 a year.
When you get proposals, “they’ll tell you good things,” he said. He added that the commission fears that after three or four years, so many corners would have been cut that the course would suffer in quality of play.
Councilman Steve Bierhorst applauded the golf commission on its efforts to hold expenses at a minimum while maintaining the quality of the course.
Councilmen Tim Tregle and Albert Foulcard agreed that the course enhances quality of life.
“You don’t make money on recreation,” Foulcard said. “All this makes St. Mary Parish better.”
In other discussion, the council heard from Stan Robison of Recreation district 3 in Bayou Vista who invited everyone to the grand opening of that community’s mini golf course on Sept. 7.