IS IT TRUE at tonights City Council meeting a presentation will be made by a representative of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission and VenuWorks to update Council members on recent changes to the newly amended contractural agreement between the City and the new owners of the Thunderbolts? …we hope that the presenters will give Council members a true and accurate line item breakdown on how the Thunderbolts have lost many hundreds of thousands of dollars this season? …we would also like to know if the taxpayers of this community have been subsidizing any of the financial losses of the Thunderbolts? …we also hope that the above individuals will come forward and tell Council members who ready owns the Evansville Thunderbolt hockey team? …it would be extremely helpful to find out who are responsible for covering any financial losses of the Thunderbolts at the Ford Center? we also hope that the presenters will tell Council if they have any past or present bills they haven’t paid?…we hope that presenters will include the $8 million annual bond payment in their profit and lose statements they present to Council this evening?
IS IT TRUE we predict that the upcoming city budget shall be a financial disaster because of excessive past and present spending habits of the current Administration? Â …we wonder how Mayor Winnecke and Council Finance Chairman Dan McGinn are going to come up with the money to build the new Lloyd Swimming Pool at Robert’s Parks, build the Penguin display at the Zoo and pay for the excessive financial shortfall of City employees Healthcare coverage for the coming budget year?
IS IT TRUE that the majority of Council members are going to attempt to  take an additional 2% of our Homestead Tax Credit money so they can cover their excussive spending habits?
IS IT TRUE that it should be blatantly obvious to anyone who has been paying attention that the City of Evansville can’t seem to figure out how to make a buck or break even on any sports related activity?…the latest revelation is that the public golf courses are costing the Evansville Park and Recreation Department a boatload of money?
IS IT TRUE specifically speaking the golf courses had a positive balance of $300,000 in 2011 when Mayor Winnecke was first elected and now 5 years later the balance is NEGATIVE $700,000?…That means the golf courses have lost $1 Million in 5 years?…a loss of $200,000 per year to subsidize a bunch of loser golf courses is nothing less than taking money from those who don’t play golf and giving that money to a golfer?…it is time for the City of Evansville to either figure out how to make a profit on the city owned and operated golf courses or lease them to a private developer?…there are only two ways to make a moneymaker out of a losing operation and those either increase revenue, cut expenses, or preferably both?
IS IT TRUE it isn’t just golf that is a subsidized losing operation in the City of Evansville’s portfolio of investments? Â …sports entities that have been reported to lose money are Thunderbolt teams, the Evansville Bluecats (arena football), outdoor football, and a couple of now defunct basketball teams?…even the NFL Evansville Crimson Giants couldn’t make a go of it?…it has also been reported on many occasions that the Evansville Otters baseball operation struggles financial?…profits and sports are not two things that have gone together in many years?…repeating the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity?
Todays ‘Readers Poll” question is: Do you think the City should consider leasing City golf courses to private developers?
The City of Evansville can’t seem to figure out how to make a buck or break even on any sports related activity?… If there were a buck to be made a private business would be doing this. Supposedly they are providing a better quality of life. My personal quality of life would be better if the roads and sewers were fixed. I do not attend sports except the sport of kings. I do drive and go to the bathroom.
In the case of golf they just need to raise the prices to find out if a profit is possible. If there were 10,000 rounds of golf played last year just raise the price by $20 and see what happens. If it doesn’t cross the red line in a year sell the land and use the proceeds for infrastructure.
Victoria operates at a profit and it is way more expensive. It is also all private money. There is a profit to be made but the City doesn’t even know how to try. It is as if they don’t even think about sustainability.
@Joe Wallace: 1) They don’t (even think about sustainability); and 2) The City needs to close McDonald golf course on Morgan Avenue (just down the street from Fendrich), and McDonald is where you put your Dog Park (for fee Dog Park , not free). Wesselman is such a joke, I would close that one too. Have West Side Golf (Helfrich) and East Side Golf (Fendrich). If more courses are needed, then some fool (I mean entrepreneur) can open one. With Hamilton being sold to the Airport Authority, and Eagle Valley being sold to the EVSC, there is no one left to buy the City’s failed courses !; and 3) The fees for Helfrich and Fendrich should be based on prevailing daily fee courses in the Midwest, as adjusted to make them self-supporting (no taxpayer subsidy, as that rumpled beancounter commented in the C&P)
You keep saying the homestead tax is changing quietly. I don’t think there’s anything quiet about it. McGinn was very open and forthcoming about his plans. He announced it at several meetings and repeatedly brings it up. It will change and he has been clear about that all along.
Deputy
Point well taken. We took out the word quietly. Maybe we should had said without fanfare or little public debate.
Oh well, when City Council takes the additional 2% from our Homestead Tax Credit during this budget cycle it will leave 4% in the account for the homeowners to draw from. Before Mr. McGinn announced his plans to eliminate the Homestead Tax Credit the account was 8%.
Thanks for reading the CCO and your valuable input.
Editor
I find it hard to believe the golf courses had a positive balance at anytime since the early 70’s. If there really was a positive balance in 2011, it must have been before the bills were paid. Winnecke’s administration has done nothing positive in my opinion, but I don’t think hanging the perennial operating losses of the public golf courses is something that can be hung on one administration. Weinzapfel’s hung the Ford Center around the neck of the taxpayers and Winnecke’s list of wastefulness is ever growing, but none of it could have been done or can be done without the most egregious group of villains’ complicity, that being the city council.
I suspect you are correct. What made local politicians conclude that anyone has a right to subsidized golf is beyond me but it seems to be for real. To add perspective, the Ford Center loses the same amount of money per year than the golf courses lose in 45 years. Golf courses are a paper cut on the budget. Ford Center is a brain tumor.
Med school? New hotels and businesses downtown? I see these as positive marks for winneke
I hope you’re being sarcastic.
If the Redevelopment Commission is running the show at the Ford Center, and they must be, otherwise how could they “inform” the Common Council of what they have done AFTER THE FACT, then why is the Common Council obligated to make good on the debt created by the Evansville Redevelopment Commission and VenuWorks? Where is the elected councils role here? Or are they just there to rubber stamp the bills?
A new and expensive Penguin exhibit that no one cares about is planned at the Zoo, while the former community jewel known as Mesker Amphitheater sits rotting next door. Genius!
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