Don Graham of Jackson tees off on the 17th hole at Cascades Golf Course.These were the first public 18-hole golf courses in Jackson County and remained the only ones for decades.
These are the places where generations of Jackson residents learned this game that remained a lifelong hobby.
These are the sites of many of the most memorable moments in Jackson golf history.
But the city of Jackson and Jackson County’s merger of oversight of their Sharp Park and Cascades golf courses this year, amid industry-wide struggles, once again raised the question:
Should the government intervene in the golf sector?
Officials who manage the county-owned Cascades and city-owned Sharp Park courses say the tradition of their facilities and their importance to the growth of the game mean they should continue to operate under municipal control.
Those who oppose courses run by government units generally fall into two camps. Golf course owners argue that municipal courses provide unfair and unnecessary competition that harms the industry. Government watchdogs say they are siphoning off taxpayer money to benefit a small portion of the population.
“This is something that needs to be debated: What do you want your government to do? said Rich Karasek, who has owned Lakeland Hills Golf Course near the Michigan Center for nine years. “There is no reason for the government to get involved in golf. Stick to what you’re supposed to do.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free-market research institute in Midland, calls it the Yellow Pages test, and it applies to more than just golf: If you can find it in the Yellow Pages, it may not be a necessary function of government. .
“When governments subsidize or run businesses that provide loss-making government competition to American businesses, they are taxing us to harm our own private businesses,” said Michael D. LaFaive, director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center.
“We were here first”
The problem may be murkier in Jackson County than in other places where municipal golf courses have drained taxpayer dollars while harming private courses.
The Cascades and Sharp Park golf courses have, for the most part, generated profits for their respective park systems. Even with golf’s downturn over the past decade, the numbers show courses are at least revenue neutral.
That, plus the fact that both courses were built on donated land, makes Jackson’s situation “less concerning,” LaFaive said.
Sharp Park Golf Course opened in 1923, as golf was gaining a foothold in the United States, and Cascades opened in 1932. They were among the municipal courses built across the country to expose the masses to a game that was largely the province of the well-to-do at private country clubs.
“That was the foundation, the starting point of Jackson golf,” said Eric Terrian, who started as a golf professional at Sharp Park before becoming park superintendent and adding director of operations duties this summer golf course in Cascades.
Terrian said there’s a difference between government courses opened decades ago, like the ones here, and those built more recently.
“We were here first. I think that’s part of it,” Terrian said. “If the government at that time (built a course), I could understand people having a problem with that.”
Karasek said circumstances, not history, should dictate the need for government-owned courses.
“They were here first,” Karasek admitted. “But that doesn’t mean they have fulfilled their end of the bargain as responsible citizens of the sector. Industries change and needs change. It’s not unreasonable to say they should re-evaluate their position.”
“Stealing customers”
Public playgrounds, here and elsewhere, have long seen themselves as a way to provide low-cost recreation for residents and introduce them to play.
“We’re proud of the growth in play,” said Brandon Ransom, director of county and city parks as part of this summer’s revamp. “It’s a real niche for us.”
Terrian said he regularly gets thanked by one of the senior golfers Sharp Park goes to with its low prices.
“They’ll say, ‘If I didn’t do this, I’d stay home,'” Terrian said. “We’re trying to make it affordable.”
This is where they come up against private lessons. These course owners argue that they are fighting on an unbalanced playing field when it comes to pricing.
“When they charge a nominal fee, they’re stealing customers,” said Tony Spink, manager and member of the ownership group at Calderone Golf Club, which opened in 2001. “It doesn’t make any sense. It’s difficult to convince people of this. They like lower prices. But a businessman could understand if he owned a gas station and competed with the government.”
LaFaive offers another way of looking at the argument.
“When America wanted to help low-income people get more and better food,” he said, “we didn’t create government grocery stores; we developed food stamps.
Steve Shotwell, chairman of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners and owner of Miller Shoe Parlor, said the government is competing with his store.
“They have five or six shoe stores. Medicare, the state of Michigan, provides shoes for young people,” Shotwell said. “I’m not afraid of competition. I’m happy to have more.
One of the main advantages that government courses enjoy is that they do not pay property taxes.
“It changes everything,” said Karasek, who said his course brings in about $30,000 a year in property taxes.
“Property taxes and capital investment — those two things are the difference between survival and failure,” said Bill Schott, who pays $60,000 a year in property taxes on the 36-hole Hickory Hills golf course. which he has owned since 1982.
Private course owners argue that Sharp Park and Cascades benefit from not having to make a profit on their investment and being able to manage their debts with public money. County Parks received a $600,000 loan from the county’s delinquent tax revolving loan fund in 1999 for capital improvements to the course. The county allowed payments on that loan to be delayed until 2005. It is being repaid with revenue from the golf course, Ransom said.
A renovation of the Sharp Park Golf Course in 2000 cost $600,000. The city sold bonds that are being repaid through the city’s public improvement fund.
Such loans are virtually impossible to obtain for private golf courses these days, Schott said, due to the lack of industry-wide profits.
“A golf course is considered a toxic asset,” he said.
“An autonomous operation”
On the issue of using public money to support golf courses, both sides agree.
“If even one penny of taxpayer money goes to subsidize a golf course, that’s one penny too many,” LaFaive said. “It’s the least necessary of the least necessary government services.”
“They don’t subsidize it, and they shouldn’t,” Ransom acknowledged. “An activity like golf should be a standalone operation. »
This is what the county did with the Cascades course (including the short course and learning center) starting in 2006. The course which, at its peak, generated more than $200,000 in annual profits for County Parks became a separate entity.
“We can’t post a red number,” Ransom said. “That’s not going to happen.”
The city manages Sharp Park in a different way, making it more difficult to accurately track the financial performance of the golf operation.
Golf course revenues are in addition to profits from the park’s miniature golf course and learning center, as well as interest from the Sharp Park Endowment Fund, and this total goes toward operating expenses for the golf course. golf course and the rest of Sharp Park.
(The miniature golf course has been a financial boon with annual profits of $75,000 to $85,000 over the past five years.)
Any deficit is made up by a transfer from the City’s general fund. That amount has varied between $67,000 and $142,000 over the past five years, a figure that city officials say would be considerably higher without the golf course operation. For many years before, no general fund money had been needed.
Although the cost of maintaining Sharp Park alone cannot be determined, for comparison, the budget for maintaining Sparks County Park – separate from Cascades Golf Course – is approximately $100,000 per year .
“People got Sharp Park basically for free, through golf,” Terrian said. “It’s a plus for the community.”
LaFaive sounds a note of skepticism about the government’s accounting practices.
“The ways that counties can make their courses appear profitable when they are not are endless,” he said, referring to golf course costs that can be billed at different departments.
LaFaive is one of those who are asking municipalities to sell or privatize/rent their golf courses.
Jackson’s city charter would require voter approval to sell any property in Sharp Park. Sparks County park properties could be sold or leased by a vote of the county commission, whose leader is a strong supporter of municipal courts.
“They attract the community and they are important,” Shotwell said. “They are the pride and jewels of Jackson County.”
