LIHU‘E — Last summer’s restructuring of the fee schedule for the Wailua Golf Course has moved it further from self-sufficiency, not closer, and the Carvalho administration is working on a proposal that would walk back some of the changes. County
LIHU‘E — Last summer’s restructuring of the fee schedule for the Wailua Golf Course has moved it further from self-sufficiency, not closer, and the Carvalho administration is working on a proposal that would walk back some of the changes.
County Department of Parks and Recreation Director Lenny Rapozo said earlier this month that the proposal would likely be in the form of an ordinance that would amend existing golf course policy to lower the cost for non-residents and potentially allow for longer “twilight hours” that offer even cheaper prices to all players.
Rapozo said the cost adjustment for non-residents is “not a discount” but rather would be designed to bring the increase to non-resident rates into alignment with the percentage increase that residents experienced last summer.
The increase instituted for non-residents July 1, 2009, was “disproportionate” compared to the increase for residents, Rapozo said, and while burdening visitors with the bulk of the increase was designed to lessen the load carried by locals, it has led to a decrease in use and has not had the desired effect.
He said last summer’s change to the fee structure was not initiated by the administration but came after a recommendation from the Cost Control Commission and input from the Kaua‘i Golf Association.
If the proposed change goes through, non-residents would still pay a higher rate than residents, but the difference would be more proportional, Rapozo said.
Rapozo’s comments came in an interview at his office hours after the Cost Control Commission earlier this month referred a communication from Wyn Hansen and Bruce Cunningham to the Parks Department.
Rapozo said some golfers have been “jumping up and down” on the perceived change to the policy on twilight play but said the golf course ordinance on the books has always said that twilight rates for play on the Front 9 cannot start until 3 p.m.
In a letter provided to The Garden Island — it remains unclear if it is the same communication sent to the Cost Control Commission — Cunningham said the course is a “ghost town” at 3 p.m. and that teeing off at 3 p.m. instead of 2 p.m. does not give golfers enough time to finish all 18 holes.
“Whatever county official thought up ‘paying more to play less’ should have a salary adjustment,” Cunningham wrote in his letter.
While past course administrators had contravened county law and allowed twilight play to begin at 2 p.m., Rapozo said his department and the golf course are now “just enforcing what the current ordinance is.”
Rapozo said the new proposal, should it be approved by Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. and the Kaua‘i County Council, would give the course administrator the power to allow twilight play on the Front 9 to begin earlier, much like how twilight play on the Back 9 is allowed before 7:30 a.m. or at the administrator’s discretion.
