- April 28, 2024
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The price to play the greens at Palm Harbor Golf Course will be increasing across the board in May.
The Palm Coast City Council unanimously approved to increase the Palm Coast resident, Florida resident, and non-resident rates by $2.50, $3.50 and $7, respectively. Vice Mayor Ed Danko advocated and motioned for a higher increase, saying that if the city has low rates, it undercuts the privately owned businesses.
“We really have no business being in business is my view on this,” he said.
The increases would mostly impact the non-resident rates, which Parks and Recreation director James Hirst only account for around 10% of the course's players.
Hirst said the approved increases could create a revenue, which would deposit into the city’s general fund. When he presented to council at the March 5 business meeting, Hirst was recommending a $3.50 increase across all the course’s rates.
Danko initially proposed increasing the rates to $3.50 for Palm Coast residents, $5 for Florida residents and $7.25 for non-residents, but the motion was not seconded. Council member Theresa Carli Pontieri said the council should not be padding the general fund at the expense of the residents.
“This is an amenity that we offer our residents,” she said, “that I want to still be able to offer our residents to where we aren't paying to allow people to golf, but we also aren't padding our general fund.”
Pontieri did say she was concerned about getting to cost-recovery without increasing the rates of at least the out-of-state rate.
Council member Nick Klufas disagreed with increasing the rates based on the private businesses. Though he did ultimately vote for the proposed increases — qualifying his vote as “reluctantly, yes” — he said Parks and Recreation does not make a profit from any other amenities in the city.
Why, he asked, should the city break that standard just for the golf course?
“I feel like we are under the veil of lobbying here,” Klufas said. “This is an instance where we can apply those things, but we don't all apply those across the board.”
Palm Harbor is a full-service gulf course with 18 holes, a driving range, putting practice greens, a retail store and the on-site restaurant, Loopers. The city bought the golf course in 2008 and it was managed by the private management firm Kemper Sports since 2009.
The city took over the golf course in 2017, after Kemper Sports had ran the golf range at a six-figure deficit for multiple years.
Since the city took over, Parks and Recreation has been working to bring the course up to breaking even on operational costs through its fees.
Entry fee and rates at the golf course vary between on- and off-peak times, the time of day a person decides to play, how many holes, and by the residential status.
I feel like we are under the veil of lobbying here. This is an instance where we can apply those things, but we don't all apply those across the board.”
— NICK KLUFAS, Palm Coast Council member
Peak season is between Nov. 1 and April 30. During those months it coasts a Palm Coast resident $43 to play 18 holes between the hours of 7 and 11 a.m. A Florida resident pays $49 and a non-resident pays $53. Those are the most expensive set rates and times.
The increases — which do not apply until May 1, when the peak-season rates change to the off-season ones — would raise those to $45.50, $52.50 and $60 for the same play time and holes.
The proposed rate increase was part of a multi-amenity rate increase initially presented to the council last October. At that time, the council approved increasing rental fee rates like for activity spaces at city-owned parks and pool lanes the Palm Coast Aquatic Center.
The rates approved at the March 5 meeting were also tied into an ordinance that allows the city manager to approve increasing the golf rates alongside the annual Consumer Price Index. Pontieri suggested the CPI increase be automatically applied to help with cost recovery.
In October, Hirst proposed only increasing the golf rates by $2.
"We believe this keeps us comparable with the other golf facilities, but also keeping our high standards that the golfers deserve," Hirst said in that meeting.
Danko said repeatedly at the March 2 meeting that the low fees of the business were “undercutting” the neighboring privately owned courses, Cypress Knolls, Grand Reserve and Pine Lakes Golf Courses
“We now have to level this playing field though for our local courses, our local businesses,” Dank said.
Danko said at the October presentation he’d like to see the course break even or even make money after being in the red for so many years.
During Hirst’s presentation, he compared the Palm Harbor fees to that of the privately-owned courses. The prices are comparable.
As you provide a superior product, it is very challenging for other golf courses in the community to charge a rate higher than the city of Palm Coast."
— DOREEN HALL, Pine Lakes Golf Course co-owner
Pine Lakes offers the same three-tiered residential rates, with Palm Coast residents paying $48, Florida residents paying $50 and the non-residents paying $54. Cypress Knoll Golf & Country Club and Grand Reserve Golf Club have lower rates over a two-tier residential structure: $42 and $46 for Cypress and $49 for both at Grand Reserve.
But Doreen Hall, co-owner of the Pine Lakes Golf Course, who attended the meeting and spoke during the public comment section, said the comparable prices are more because the private courses can’t raise their rates when compared to the Palm Harbor rates and the quality of the city course.
Palm Harbor sets the rate structure for golf in the city, she said.
“As you provide a superior product, it is very challenging for other golf courses in the community to charge a rate higher than the city of Palm Coast,” Hall said. “Even if financially those golf courses need to charge more money.”
Danko said increasing the out-of-state rates would not hurt Palm Coast residents. The visitors from out of Florida are used to paying higher rates to golf, he said.
“I think we're giving those out of state folks a real major break we're basically subsidizing their golf,” he said.
Klufas disagreed. While he agreed that the course needed to break even after so many years running at a deficit, he said it the cost-recovery model is the standard and it is unusual for the city to alter that for one amenity.
“Do we have any other amenities that we're trying to get to this for-profit model that all of a sudden we are trying to balance out?” he asked.
Ultimately, Mayor David Alfin said, the rates will return to council for consideration in a year. At that time, he said, the city can see what the results of the increase were.
“How are people going to react? None of us know,” Alfin said. “I think that for a year, we could test and balance the field a bit. Maybe it's not perfect, but we'll have next year to refine it some more.”
