The Henderson City Commission Jan. 23 approved a renewal of the contract with the company that runs The Bridges golf course on the east side of town.
In the agreement, the city will pay for 75% of any capital improvements and the company, K&J Course Management, will pay the other 25%, said Project Manager Dylan Ward.
This agreement was originally struck in 2018 and is scheduled to extend till June 30, 2024. The new agreement will pick up from there and go for another five years, till June 30, 2029, according to city documents.
At that time of the initial contract, the city agreed to pay for restoration of the golf course, the old Players Club that had not been in use, while K&J would begin the day-to-day operation of the golf course.
The city purchased the property for $750,000 in October 2018. That purchase was helped by a $500,000 donation by Henderson resident Jim Marshall, according to Gleaner articles at the time. Of that donation, $50,000 was earmarked for the purchase of the land, leaving the city to pay $700,000, said the articles.
The other $450,000 was to be used for the restoration of the course, according to the articles.
At the most recent city commission meeting, city of Henderson Project Manager Dylan Ward said that money marked for rehab was spent before the course re-opened.
Ward also said that the city has spent about $100,000 on capital improvements to the course in the first five years.
City officials say all of that together shows a gain in funds, rather than a loss, because the Parks and Recreation Department had been operating the old Municipal Golf Course at a $200,000 loss the years before The Bridges deal was enacted.
When taking into consideration the savings of $200,000—more if you take inflation into account—from having closed the Municipal course over the past five years and the $100,000 spent in improvements, the city has made its money back on the investment to buy the golf course, city officials say.
