The Mill Valley Golf Course has been owned and run by the city for more than 80 years.
It’s been the source of occasional debate over the years, starting with the three times it took to gain enough support from the city’s voters to approve acquiring the 42-acre course and turning it into a local recreational asset.
It is a treasure: A nine-hole course set in the redwoods.
It has endured the ups and downs in the popularity of golf, many droughts, several renovations and occasional budget debates.
Today, the golf course is seeing a surge in popularity. Play has more than doubled, to 9,751 rounds over the last year. Likely, this is a result of the coronavirus lockdown, which has limited other activities.
Still, it remains far from self-sustaining from a budgetary standpoint. Many recreational assets, such as tennis courts, the skatepark, the community center and pool or playfields, can make the same claim. Even the library is not expected to pay for itself.
Some require fees, but municipalities need to make sure that those charges are not pricing the greater public from using the facilities that their tax dollars are already helping support.
These are community assets and local services that serve the greater good. Their availability is underwritten by the city’s general funds.
The golf course’s operating deficit of $280,000 over the past year is a valid concern. That’s a top reason why the city is considering bringing in an experienced golf course management firm to run and market the course.
City Hall has previously hired a consultant that determined the course could be turned into a revenue generator.
Any cash-generating initiatives should be subject to public review, particularly by the golfers who enjoy the access to their sport the course now offers.
But the municipal course has its detractors, among them community members who object to the city devoting taxpayer money to what one resident calls an “elite activity used by a minority of people” while City Hall has had to cut the budgets of its fire department and library.
There has also been a suggestion that the acreage would get greater public use — and without requiring as much water — if turned into open space.
Many of these arguments fueled the county’s ham-handed moves to close the San Geronimo Golf Course, shutting down a local longstanding recreational asset — one of the most affordable places in the county to play 18 holes — to add to Marin’s already bountiful acreage of open space.
San Geronimo’s demise probably is a reason for increased play at Mill Valley.
Closing Mill Valley’s course would simply widen the gap of readily available and affordable courses to play. It certainly won’t make golf any more economically equitable.
Bringing in an experienced third party to run and manage the course could make sense from a financial standpoint, but City Hall needs to also make sure that the course that its taxpayers bought and have supported since 1939 is accessible and affordable to as many Mill Valley and nearby residents as possible.
It makes sense to look at ways to reduce the cost of the city’s support, but reducing public use would undermine the goal of having a municipal course.
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August 03, 2020 at 12:45AM
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Editorial: Keep Mill Valley Golf Course open and affordable - Marin Independent Journal
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