The implication is that golf is the problem. Former town Budget and Finance Commission member David Newell does not agree. Writing on LOVE’s facebook page he noted the following.
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“This might be the most erroneous thing I have ever seen written about the town golfing operations. A correction should be made. Mike Zinkin is correct when he says there were 2,627 public pay rounds played on town courses. But on the exact same line of the spreadsheet in the Town Manager's Executive Report to Council, it SPECIFICALLY SAYS an additional 2828 rounds were played by members, 673 rounds were played by Outings, and 84 rounds were played by Comps (reimbursement for advertising and selling rounds on GolfNow and other sites). There were 6212 rounds played in May on the Town Courses.
Mike Zinkin's argument is the mental equivalent of saying a local Subway sold 2627 Roast Beef Sandwiches in May. A local Arby's Sold 3700 Roast Beef Sandwiches. The Subway sells less sandwiches than Arby's, even though the Subway sells 3582 Ham Sandwiches as well.
Oversight is important, and we want to make sure that we can identify places where town services can improve, but the count of public play rounds is simply not a key performance indicator. The citizens of Oro Valley would surely prefer selling 2000 rounds of golf at 100 dollars a round for 200,000 dollars of revenue, rather than 3000 rounds of golf at 50 dollars a round for 150,000 dollars of revenue.
The true key performance indicator, and a simple one to understand, is how much profit or loss the golf operation sustains over a period of time, and how much if any subsidy of tax dollars is required to keep it from losing money. From the latest town financial report: "With the most recent year-end projections provided by the golf contractor, the Town is not expecting any year-end sales tax support for golf operations. The projected net loss of $36,172 for contracted golf operations will be covered by $159,050 in outside HOA contributions, and approximately $83,000 in local sales taxes generated from golf related operations." Golf is projected to turn over 200,000 dollar Profit to the town's bottom line this year. When Mike Zinkin was on the council, Golf routinely lost the town close to 2 million dollars a year. Obviously, things are very different, and improved, now.”
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“This might be the most erroneous thing I have ever seen written about the town golfing operations. A correction should be made. Mike Zinkin is correct when he says there were 2,627 public pay rounds played on town courses. But on the exact same line of the spreadsheet in the Town Manager's Executive Report to Council, it SPECIFICALLY SAYS an additional 2828 rounds were played by members, 673 rounds were played by Outings, and 84 rounds were played by Comps (reimbursement for advertising and selling rounds on GolfNow and other sites). There were 6212 rounds played in May on the Town Courses.
Mike Zinkin's argument is the mental equivalent of saying a local Subway sold 2627 Roast Beef Sandwiches in May. A local Arby's Sold 3700 Roast Beef Sandwiches. The Subway sells less sandwiches than Arby's, even though the Subway sells 3582 Ham Sandwiches as well.
Oversight is important, and we want to make sure that we can identify places where town services can improve, but the count of public play rounds is simply not a key performance indicator. The citizens of Oro Valley would surely prefer selling 2000 rounds of golf at 100 dollars a round for 200,000 dollars of revenue, rather than 3000 rounds of golf at 50 dollars a round for 150,000 dollars of revenue.
The true key performance indicator, and a simple one to understand, is how much profit or loss the golf operation sustains over a period of time, and how much if any subsidy of tax dollars is required to keep it from losing money. From the latest town financial report: "With the most recent year-end projections provided by the golf contractor, the Town is not expecting any year-end sales tax support for golf operations. The projected net loss of $36,172 for contracted golf operations will be covered by $159,050 in outside HOA contributions, and approximately $83,000 in local sales taxes generated from golf related operations." Golf is projected to turn over 200,000 dollar Profit to the town's bottom line this year. When Mike Zinkin was on the council, Golf routinely lost the town close to 2 million dollars a year. Obviously, things are very different, and improved, now.”
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