Multiple Changes Possibly Coming To Sunrise Golf Course

Mayor Courtney made many recommendations to the board that could help the city save money.

(Madison, Ind.) – Many changes could be coming to Sunrise golf course.

During Tuesday’s City of Madison Parks Board meeting, the board along with Mayor Courtney discussed options on how to make Sunrise a more self-sufficient department.

As of now, the whole parks department runs out of one account with the money going to whichever asset needs it the most.  With this, the city began to see millions of dollars of deferred maintenance throughout the whole parks department with the major area being the golf course.

With this, Mayor Courtney made recommendations that over time would help the golf course. These recommendations are as follows:

• Implemented hiring freeze – saved $11,000
• Implemented winter rate reeducation
• Reduce staffing from 6 full-time employees with full benefits to two full-time employees
  • Keep the rest as seasonal, or move them into a different full-time position with the city
• Increase programs to $40
• Private carts only allowed to season pass holders
  • If not a pass holder you will need to pay cart fees in order to use private carts

One other suggestion that Mayor Courtney made was raising green fees. At this time the golfers pay around $17 to play 18 holes of golf. For the city to provide those 18 holes it cost them about $25 dollars, therefore the city is losing around $8.00 for each golfer.

The suggestion is to raise the fees from $17 to $27 for 18 holes of golf.

“We want to give the golfers something worth paying for, if we are going to raise the prices then we need to make improvements as well,” said Mayor Courtney.

More on the golf course will be discussed at the new next meeting on Tuesday, January 26.