Should Plymouth Township Stay the Course on Hilltop Golf?

PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP, MI – Plymouth Township trustees have some tough decisions ahead about the unprofitable Hilltop Golf Course.

A vote on a three-year renewal of the five-year management contract with Virginia-based Billy Casper Golf, which expires this spring, is on the Board of Trustees’ Tuesday agenda, The Plymouth Observer reports.

The township pays an annual management fee of about $80,000 and keeps the profits on the 18-hole course on Powell Road, just west of Plymouth Township Park.

However, Plymouth Township Treasurer Ron Edwards told The Observer that from 1996 to 2005, the golf course generated a profit of about $1.9 million. In 2014, he said, the deficit had dwindled to about $54,000 and operations showed a small profit. Final 2015 numbers aren’t in, but Edwards thinks the operation will break even.

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• Should the township trustees exercise option for three-year extension of golf course management contract or take a different approach? Tell us in the comments.

At a special meeting of the Board of Trustees Tuesday, Nick Bednar, regional director of operations for the management company, said golf courses nationwide have struggled since the recession.

If the contract isn’t renewed, it may mean Hilltop can’t operate in 2016, Trustee Chuck Curmi said. Trustee Bob Doroshewitz said he favors a one-year renewal that would allow the course remain operational in the upcoming season while other options are explored.

“Everything’s negotiable,” he said.

» For more about the Plymouth Township Trustees’ discussion on the golf course, go to Hometownlife.com.

» Patch file photo