St. George continues to subsidize city-owned golf courses as a result of falling revenue, but officials say the courses are compensating for their decreased revenues by continuing to drive the economy in tourism business. St. George’s city government owns four of them, which mostly existed before privately owned courses began to challenge for increasingly smaller pieces of the financial pie.
For the budget year, St. George propped up the sagging revenues at Sunbrook, Dixie Red Hills and the other two public courses — the St. George Golf Club and Southgate Golf Club — with $225,000 transferred from the city’s Economic Development Fund. Of the $4.52 million in expenses officials estimate St. George will incur to operate the golf courses, the courses will only bring in $3.94 million in projected revenue. But once depreciation in the Golf Department’s assets is considered, the Economic Development Fund transfer will be enough to keep the courses in the black. The Spectrum
