City Council raises golf fees

RITZVILLE – The City Council unanimously raised golf fees at the city-owned fees following a June 20 public hearing in which nobody testified.

The green fees is increased $2 during the week and $5 on weekends, under the ordinance.

Having received no public comments, either in writing or at the public meeting, finance committee member Councilman Mike Schrag described efforts to develop a modified fee schedule.

“We didn’t just grab numbers out of the air, put them on paper, and tell Julie (Flyckt, the city’s Clerk/Treasurer) to draft an ordinance,” he said.

According to Schrag, committee members spent many hours working with Ritzville Golf Association member and golf course manager Dan Duff.

They also gathered data from 27 golf courses throughout Eastern Washington.

Most of the courses were privately owned, he said. Others were operated by county Parks and Recreation divisions. Three courses were city-owned and operated: Colfax, Dayton and Ritzville.

“We compared rates at all these courses, deleting the highest and lowest fees and averaging the rest,” Schrag said.

Schrag focused on season passes within the range of Ritzville’s immediate competitors, Harrington and Odessa. He noted that the single adult season pass of $625 for Ritzville, as proposed, was less than a comparable pass for Odessa ($650) or Harrington ($900).

Schrag also compared green fees for a 9-hole round for weekdays and weekends. He noted that the ordinance will increase Ritzville’s 9-hole fees from $15 to $17 on weekdays and $20 on weekends.

In accordance with Duff’s recommendation, Monday special fees of $10 will remain unchanged. At a prior council meeting May 16, City Attorney John Kragt argued that such a scenario may lead to lower revenues.

“If the city raises other fees and the rate for Mondays stays the same, more people are going to play on Mondays,” he said

At the recent Tuesday meeting, Schrag shared a schedule showing that 2022 golf expenditures exceeded revenues by $18,362. He noted that the city hasn’t raised golf fees since 2016.

“The proposed changes represent a 10% increase over that time period,” he said.

“That’s an increase of only 1.4% per year. We’re not even keeping up with inflation.”

Clerk/Treasurer Julie Flyckt then commented on the ordinance provision that would exclude a 3% credit card charge and 8% sales tax from basic golf fees.

She objected to this part of the proposal. “From my perspective, having worked with auditors, we want to encourage customers to pay with credit cards,” she said. “Our goal at the golf course has been to limit cash handling.”

She noted that the city currently employs an outside party to handle cash at the golf course. “If customers are informed that a credit card charge will be added to the fees, they’ll be less likely to use credit cards. They’ll pay with cash instead.” She noted that the golf course will then be forced to carry more change in their cash registers, which may increase the risk of fraud.

Schrag countered that many local businesses charge a credit card fee and customers are willing to pay it. Council member Dennis Chamberlain noted that the finance committee considered both sides of the argument in prior deliberations.