ANAHEIM : City to Weigh Making Golf Courses Private

The City Council is scheduled tonight to consider a proposal to privatize its two municipal golf courses--a move that a July study said would generate between $300,000 and $500,000 in extra city revenue.

City officials have recommended the council reject the privatization proposal since the financial return would be smaller than predicted in the July study. A city staff report said, at best, privatizing the golf courses would deliver $2.1 million to the city over the next 20 years.

Further, said city officials, Anaheim might endanger its current annual profit of about $1.2 million from its golf courses if it decided to privatize. Under certain proposals outlined in the analysis, the city would not be guaranteed a minimum return and could actually lose money if the new operators let the courses decline.

The city received six bids to operate the golf courses. But an independent evaluator from the United States Golf Assn., or USGA, found Anaheim’s golf courses superior to golf courses maintained by the private companies that had offered bids.

“Anaheim courses, unlike other municipal courses, have completed maintenance on time and without excuses. Furthermore, their equipment inventories are state-of-the-art and when greens or tees justify reconstruction, the projects are completed using the highest industry standards,” said the USGA evaluator.

Anaheim Hills Golf Course, 6501 E. Nohl Ranch Road, and H.G. “Dad” Miller Public Golf Course, 430 N. Gilbert St., attract more than 20,000 golfers per month, according to city officials.

The weekday rate to play both courses is $16, while the weekend rate is $22.

The city began examining a proposal to privatize golf courses in January, 1993, in hopes of raising more money for its general fund.