By Greg Nikkel
Weyburn city council will meet with the executive of the Weyburn Golf Club to discuss the possibility of an interest-free loan so they can carry out upgrades to golf course facilities, in particular to install a new irrigation system.
The request was brought to council by a delegation from the Golf Club, with president John Corrigan explaining the request for an interest-free loan of $900,000 to do the course improvements.
He noted the irrigation system ranges from 30 to 40 years old, and the need for a new system was highlighted by a very dry, hot year.
The Golf Club is proposing initially a repayment plan of around $20,000 a year, but Corrigan said this amount can be increased in years when the Golf Club has strong finances, and noted the loan terms are negotiable.
The club is putting up the land and buildings as collateral, which has an estimated value of around $1.2 million.
If the Golf Club approached a financial institution for a loan of this size, Corrigan said the repayment terms would be so large it would make it impossible for the club to continue operating and to make course improvements.
Asked if the Golf Club has set aside funds in reserve for a project like this, Corrigan noted its recent need to pay back taxes to the RM of Weyburn depleted their reserve funds.
He agreed with council members who pointed out this is a rather significant amount of money, and said this was why the lands and buildings were being put up as collateral to protect the taxpayers’ money.
Asked if the club has approached the RM council with this request, Corrigan said they had not. “We thought we’d come here first,” he said.
“The importance of the golf course is huge,” said Coun. Winston Bailey, pointing out that at the suggested payment rate it will take the club 45 years to repay the loan. “To me, that won’t work, so we need to get down to the meat and bones.”
He asked if the club executive has considered raising the membership fees as one way to increase the amount that can be paid to the city each year, and Corrigan said the executive has looked at this.
“We examine the fee structure closely and determine what the marketplace will bear. With the memberships and green fees, it’s a touchy situation and not one we take lightly,” he said, pointing out the danger of raising it too high is there would be a dropoff in members, and the golf club would end up with the same amount of money.
Coun. Mel Van Betuw said the council needs to have a roundtable discussion with the executive and do some negotiating before being able to make a decision on making a loan to the Golf Club, and council agreed with this suggestion.
