Foe Teed Off by Proposed Golf Fee Hike

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan proposes in his new budget that golfers at municipal courses pay $1 more a round. The charge, a mayoral deputy says, is part of making the city “more entrepreneurial.”

The city’s leading golf gadfly calls it something else. “It’s a tax,” said Marty Tregnan, president of the Los Angeles Municipal Golf Assn.

Tregnan contends that the charge, although nominal, violates Riordan’s campaign pledge of no new taxes.

Riordan’s chief of staff, Bill McCarley, denies it, saying the mayor has never opposed “fees for services that are not unreasonable.”

The higher charges--from $15 to $16 a round during the week and $19.50 to $20.50 on weekends--were proposed by Recreation and Parks Department staff to keep pace with county golf fees, which stand at $17 on weekdays and $21 on weekends.

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The Riordan budget embraces the staff recommendation, suggesting it will bring an additional $1 million a year into the $4.3-billion city budget. “We didn’t have a big problem with the increase. We didn’t think it was out of line,” McCarley said.

Tregnan said he and other golfers will turn up at City Hall in June when the proposal goes before the Recreation and Parks Commission.

“In a time of recession, we are already seeing not as many people playing tournaments,” Tregnan said. “Every time you raise the fees, some people have to decide whether they are going to keep playing or not.”