Parks and Recreation Department considers options for privatizing golf course management

The Logan Parks and Recreation Department held a public input meeting at city hall on Tuesday to discuss the privatization of the Logan River Golf Course.

“The city has solicited for and received five or six different submittals from different golf management companies,” said Russ Akina, the director of the Logan Parks and Recreation Department.

The proposals will now be reviewed by the city council to determine which company will best meet the needs of the course.

“Of those proposals,” Akina said, “none of them include the sale of the land the city owns.”

Parks superintendent Ed Stephens said the city uses approximately $150,000 to subsidize the golf course each year.

“The source of the money that we’re talking about,” Akina said, “is a transfer of funds that comes from the city's general fund to balance the golf course budget.”

The golf course fund is separate from the city and parks and recreation funds. 

Akina said the money that is currently transferred to the golf course fund could be transferred to any other department fund that the city council approved, not solely parks and recreation.

Some citizens have argued that if the golf course is privatized it raises questions on privatizing the Logan Aquatic Center as well.

Logan finance director Richard Anderson said the Logan Aquatic Center is subsidized approximately $175,000 per year.

Although both the golf course and the aquatic center are subsidized by the city, Akina said the difference between the two organizations is the way their funds are set up.

The Logan River Golf Course is set up as an “enterprise fund,” Akina said. This means that the golf course is intended to be self-sufficient.

The Logan Aquatic Center was created as part of the general fund. The difference between costs and revenue was intended to be transferred from the city’s general fund since its construction.

“This isn’t the first time the city’s been through a golf management arrangement,” Akina said. The city first tried an outside management company in 1996.

“This time we certainly want to ensure for ourselves that we’re vetting the process thoroughly before making a decision,” Akina said.