Guest View: Mike Zinkin – Why Does the Town Council Keep Taking Money From the People to Subsidize the Golf Courses?

Golf operations have been in the black since FY 2021/22.
In 2020, the Town of Oro Valley entered into a 5-year agreement with the Canada Hills Community Association (CHCA) HOA and the Villages of La Canada HOA to keep the 36 holes of golf open. In return, the HOA’s would give the Town $125,000/year to support the courses. The CHCA would give $100,000 and the Villages would give $25,000. This was during a period when golf was losing millions of dollars.

Now, according to the Town Manager’s Recommended Budget (page v) “golf operations have been in the black since FY 21/22”.

The homeowners of CHCA never voted to approve this subsidy.
I can’t speak for the Villages, but I can speak for the CHCA (as I live there). The obligation of the $100,000 was never voted on by the homeowners of the association. There are approximately 3100 homes in the CHCA and some commercial properties (Fry’s center at Lambert/La Canada). Of the 3100 homes, approximately 400 of them align the golf course. The decision to obligate this money was made by the CHCA Board of Directors only.

I wonder how many of the 5 member HOA Board were golfers and were thinking of themselves and not their constituents. The CHCA homeowner’s dues have increased from $65.00/year to $118.00/year all for the purpose of giving the Town $100,000.

The difference between this HOA contribution and a property tax is that a property tax can be deducted from your taxes and also must be approved by the voters prior to being implemented.

If golf is in the black, how is our $100,000 per year contribution currently being used?
Under the previous Town Manager, the Council approved the expansion of the Community Center Fund to include Parks and Recreation. Does this mean the Town can now use the $100,000 in HOA contributions to help finance a splash pad or a BMX track? Golf, by the Town’s admission, is making money and no longer needs to be supplemented by the HOA’s, so it stands to reason that the HOA contributions are now going elsewhere.

The 5-year agreement ends on April 1, 2025.
Why doesn’t our responsible Town Council go to the HOA’s now and say, “Thanks for your support, but the Town no longer needs your monies to supplement golf” and then VOID THE CONTRACT.

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Mike Zinkin and his wife have lived in Oro Valley since 1998. He served on the Oro Valley Development Review Board from 2005-2009, the Board of Adjustment from 2011-2012, and the Town Council from 2012-2016. He was named a Fellow for the National League of Cities. He was a member of the NLC Steering Committee for Community and Economic Development and a member of the Arizona League of Cities Budget and Economic Development Committee. He was an Air Traffic Controller for 30 years. Mike has a Bachelor’s degree in history and government from the University of Arizona and a Master’s degree in Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education from California State University, Northridge.

Guest View-Tim Bohen: Town Golf “Success” is an Nothing More Than An Accounting Gimmick

Town golf is a financial drain on the community

The only thing we residents need to understand is that the 0.5% sales tax allocation grows annually. In 2021/22 it is $3.4M. That is the equivalent of 85,000 rounds at $40 a round or 34,000 rounds at $100 a round simply added to the bottom line.

Anyone can turn a $3.4M subsidy into a $200K profit

Look at the courses. The holes are almost always empty after 9 AM or so. The nearby [former] Vistoso golf course closed due to lack of play. 

In my analysis, the numbers reported to Council of actual rounds played are being fabricated
For example, the town claimed 6,212 rounds played in May with only 18 holes open. This is approximately 200 rounds a day for 30 days. But only a maximum of 20 golfers can tee off every hour (assuming that 4 tee off every 12 minutes) which is busy. Thus, in order for 200 daily rounds to be played, foursomes would be teeing off every 12 minutes for 10 hours straight every day! Do you see foursomes on every hole at 5 PM when the course would need to still be full to allow everyone to finish? Or even at 1 PM? Or even 10 AM?

I asked for an audit in a Council Meeting and we got crickets

This [reported] "success" is an accounting gimmick and nothing more. I estimate that we have 1000-2000 actual monthly rounds per 18-hole course being played at most. I suspect that the rest is your 0.5% sales tax proceeds being passed off as phantom golf rounds. Why? Because Indigo gets a management bonus based on golf revenue, which can only come from reported rounds played. But until Oro Valley gets an audit from Indigo, we'll never know what is actually happening.

You can call Community Center golf a success if you like. I certainly won't.
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Tim Bohen grew up in Southern California and moved to Oro Valley in 2015. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from UCI and an MBA from Loyola Marymount. He graduated from the Oro Valley Community Academy in 2016 and the Citizens Academy in 2017. He has been on the Oro Valley Town Council since 2020. His interests include aviation and history.