Golf courses not a drain on Metro Parks Department, numbers show

While embattled Metro Parks Director Roy Wilson has suggested unexpected expenses at the city’s golf courses contributed to his department’s $704,000 budget overrun, numbers provided by sources to The City Paper show the facilities, in fact, made profits overall.

Though four of the seven Metro Parks golf courses did produce losses over the past year, the three that generated earnings allowed golf courses as a whole to gross approximately $484,000 in returns.

These numbers come from revenues and expenditures measured between October 2008 and September of this year.

Wilson, who has confirmed he’s weighing whether to resign, is expected to attend a special parks board meeting today at 10:30 a.m., one week after Metro Finance Director Richard Riebeling reported a projected Metro Parks deficit of $1.77 million.

In the past, Wilson has said succumbing to public pressure to open Shelby and Percy Warner parks courses during the winter months, when they are normally closed, in part led to the budget overshoot.

But in a memo issued to the board last week, Riebeling wrote it became apparent midway through the 2009 fiscal year that revenue projections would be less than anticipated, and all departments were given target savings. The savings figure tallied for Metro Parks, he continued, accounted for keeping Shelby and Percy Warner golf courses operating through the winter.

“We all know that these savings targets were not met by the Parks Department,” the memo reads.

Percy Warner, Ted Rhodes, Shelby and VinnyLinks golf courses each lost money over the one-year period, with Harpeth Hills, McCabe and Two Rivers golf courses accumulating profits greater than those losses.

Rounded figures for Metro Parks golf courses are:

Course                 Revenue                         Expenditure                 Profit or Loss

Harpeth Hills        $1,125,000                   $915,000                      + $210,000

McCabe                $1,550,000                   $965,000                       + 590,000

Percy Warner       $296,000                       $302,000                       - $6,000

Shelby                  $330,000                       $486,000                       - $151,000

Ted Rhodes         $686,000                       $770,000                       - $91,000

Two Rivers          $895,000                        $766,000                       + $129,000

VinnyLinks          $52,000                          $142,000                       - $90,000