With Edina's Golf Course Operations Hemorrhaging Money, City Plans Public Meeting

Edina's municipal golf course operations are on a shaky financial footing.

The city is projected to have lost more than $400,000 in 2013 on golf programming, the fourth year in the row the Edina enterprise has shown a deficit. And recently approved budgets forecast that the city will lose $205,374 in 2014 and $129,982 in 2015. 

At a Jan. 30 public meeting, city staff will present plans to reduce operating costs and increase revenues, funneling new revenues into improvements at the Braemar Golf Course.

“While it is demonstrably true that changes in the public’s relationship with the sport of golf and the changes in the climate and weather are impacting the financial operations of our golf enterprise, it is no longer acceptable to ignore those impacts by failing to adjust to them,” City Manager Scott Neal said in a statement. “We must collectively acknowledge that our past operating practices and customs at the Edina golf enterprise are no longer effective in achieving operational or financial success.”

The community meeting will be held from held 7 to 9 p.m. at Braemar Golf Course, 6364 John Harris Drive.

A plan for Edina's golf operations will be presented to the city council later this winter.