Mark O’brien makes a strong argument against the Osceola Golf Course – General Fund has paid $260K over last three years to operate it. For Jan-Mar rounds played are down – which could be more a function of the weather, but Mark concludes it’s due to lack of interest.
What MOby misses is the Osceola is so far outside the city limits. I would love to see a survey of the actual users of the course. How many are city residents?
It’s not usual for county residents to use city recreation facilities. 75% of the kids that play on Shoreline Park fields in Gulf Breeze are live outside the city.
However, the city subsidizing a golf course miles outside of its boundaries is very different.
Instead of selling the course to developers (which seems to be MOBy’s answer to everything – Trillium, Pensacola Beach, Perdido Key, etc,) why not expand the city limits to the areas around the golf course. Then those homeowners whose values benefit from having such a fine facility next door would help pay for its operation.