NAWILIWILI — Wailua Golf Course was once the highest-ranked municipal course in the nation. More than half its patrons are locals, who benefit from rates averaging less than $10 per round. However, the low rates come at a price. Each
NAWILIWILI — Wailua Golf Course was once the highest-ranked municipal course in the nation. More than half its patrons are locals, who benefit from rates averaging less than $10 per round.
However, the low rates come at a price. Each year Kaua‘i County infuses a substantial amount of taxpayers’ money to keep the 18-hole oceanside course up and running.
Last fiscal year the county had to appropriate an extra $650,798 to keep the course open. This fiscal year, which ends June 30, the county expects the shortfall to be $1.05 million.
Many have criticized the county for injecting money into a business that should be primarily funded through user charges. The golf course became an enterprise fund in 1992.
“It is very difficult for us to assume our golf course is in fact an enterprise fund when we actually have an operating loss in the department,” County Council Chair Jay Furfaro said Wednesday.
Enterprise funds use a measurement focus known as “the flow of economic measures,” generally the same measurement used by commercial entities, reporting long-term assets and liabilities on the balance sheet, according to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
Government funds use a different measurement focus, known as “the flow of current financial measures,” measuring financial resources available to the entity in the near future as a result of transactions and events of the reported fiscal period, according GAAP.
Last week the council’s Committee of the Whole approved $525,448 to be taken from the General Fund for the Golf Fund, covering operating losses in the current fiscal year.
Despite criticizing the golf course’s designation as an enterprise fund, Furfaro said, “On the flipside, we need to recognize that Wailua Golf Course is part of our Parks and Recreation Department, for the benefit of our community.”
Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.’s budget request last year for the Parks and Recreation Department’s operating expenses in the current fiscal year was $8.6 million.
“It appears that this so-called enterprise fund will never again be a true enterprise fund,” said Kapa‘a resident Glenn Mickens, asking if he should presume the golf course would be treated like other county facilities, paid for with tax money.
Furfaro said Wailua Golf Course brought in $1.56 million in revenues during FY10. But after operating losses and other expenses it still cost the county $650,798.
In the current fiscal year the administration is forecasting $1.14 million in revenues, $423,192 less than in FY10.
The golf course in FY10 paid $1.32 million in wages and benefits; in FY11 the county is projecting to pay $1.26 million.
Despite a projected reduction of $57,748 in wages and benefits, the operating expenses increased $33,016, rising to $479,052 in FY11 from $446,036 in FY10.
Parks and Recreation Director Lenny Rapozo said the green fees in FY11 will account for 80 percent of the revenue. The driving range will account for 4 percent of the revenue, and the concessions will account for 16 percent of the revenue.
The golf course charges a variety of fees from the players, depending on their status as residents, visitors, seniors and juniors.
Rapozo said that between July 2010 and December 2010, players paid an average $18.68 per round; residents averaged $9.53 per round; seniors averaged $5.46 per round; and non-residents averaged $41.05 per round.
In FY10 the average cost per round was $24.04, which means this fiscal year the golf course is making $5.36 less per round.
In 2001 there were 103,713 rounds played. The numbers dipped and bounced over the years, never reaching that peak again. Since 2008, they have been on a steady decline.
In 2008 the number of rounds played was 100,338. In 2009 the number dropped to 98,161. In 2010, the number of rounds played plunged to 92,200. It represented the lowest number of rounds in the last 10 recorded years.
In an effort to make the course self-sustainable, on May 26, 2009, the golf course increased play rates. But in June 2010, the golf course rates were reduced for non-residents after realizing that the rate hike was driving tourists away.
Revenue-boosting ideas for the course
Rapozo presented the council with a few suggestions to increase the course’s revenue and play.
He said the council could entertain a council-operated golf cart rental, offer group lessons and special tournaments for new golfers, work with the Kaua‘i Golf Association to promote the golf course, require riding carts before noon, promote hotel and golfing packages, and promote the golf course — the fifth-ranked municipal course in the U.S. — through the tourism industry.
Rapozo also proposed some golf fee amendments, such as accepting Hawai‘i driver’s licenses for daily rates only, including limited-round rates for part-time residents who pay property taxes, introducing a special rate for a resident-accompanied foursome, and eliminating some of the cheapest rates — senior and super-senior rates — making all locals pay a resident daily rate.
A restaurant bid accepted last week came in at $5,150, increasing the restaurant concession revenue $2,850 per month, according to Rapozo.
The full council will hear Bill 2396 on Wednesday. The meeting starts at 9 a.m. at Council Chambers in Nawiliwili.
Go to www.kauai.gov/golf for more information.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja @kauaipubco.com.
