The Baker City Council on March 12 awarded a $1.35 million bid to replace the irrigation system at the city-owned Quail Ridge Golf Course in the fall of 2024.

Proponents, including Mayor Randy Daugherty, said the city’s share, estimated at about $695,000, could be paid with revenue from the local lodging tax, which is paid by people who stay at motels and other lodging businesses, rather than property tax revenue in the general fund, which are paid by owners of property within the city.

The general fund, which includes the police and fire departments, will have an estimated shortfall of $900,000 for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

The council is pursuing several ways to fill that gap, including reinstating a public safety fee as soon as April 1, increasing franchise fees that utilities pay for using city rights-of-way, and asking voters, in the May 21 election, to approve a five-year property tax levy that would raise about $858,000 the first year it was in place.

Despite the possibility that the golf course irrigation project won’t siphon money from the general fund and from property taxes, councilor Doni Bruland said she couldn’t support the plan. She cast the lone dissenting vote on the motion to award the golf course project to Mid-America Golf & Landscape Inc., of Missouri, the low bidder.

“I can’t, in the light of what we’re fighting for, safety and our firefighters, I cannot think about doing a $695,000 improvement when that can go directly towards something else,” Bruland said. “To me, it doesn’t pass the sniff test for me to be asking you guys to give us more revenue and then behind you we’re giving out $700,000 that may or may not be paid with the (lodging tax) for this project.”

Daugherty and councilors Larry Pearson, Helen Loennig and Roger Coles voted for the motion to award the bid.

Pearson said that although he understands Bruland’s concern, the golf course “is a huge asset and it is a huge tourist attraction.”

Loran Joseph was absent.

Councilor Nic Carman, who works at Quail Ridge, recused himself from the discussion and vote due to a potential conflict of interest.

Fred Warner Jr., former city manager and chairman of the golf committee, said the Baker County Economic Development Committee has endorsed a request for $150,000 for the project, and proponents are seeking another contribution from the committee, which allocates revenue from the lodging tax.

The Leo Adler Foundation has awarded $160,000, Anthony Lakes Outdoor Recreation Association, which manages the golf course for the city, has committed $65,000, and the golfing community has pledged $100,000, Warner said.

“We believe that the city will owe about $695,000,” Warner told the council on March 12. “That money will be repaid without any general fund money at all. The plan is to use transient lodging tax. … money.”

The lodging tax money could be repaid to cover the city’s share over five to 10 years, Warner said.

The city council, however, can’t unilaterally allocate lodging taxes for that or any other purpose.

A Baker County ordinance updated in 2019 gives the authority to distribute lodging tax revenue to the three county commissioners.

The ordinance, following a state law, requires that 70% of the revenue be used for tourism promotion, and 25% for economic development.

Tyler Brown, chairman of the county transient lodging tax committee, which advises county commissioners, said he expects the city’s request for lodging taxes to cover the city’s share of the irrigation system replacement would first come to the committee he chairs.

Brown said the golf course is a tourist attraction, but he said he would like to know approximately what percentage of golfers are tourists, who likely stay in local lodging establishments and thus pay the tax, rather than local residents.

History of irrigation replacement proposal

Sections of the irrigation system were installed when the original nine holes were built in the 1930s. The system has become increasingly prone to leaks, Jon Woolard, chairman of the Baker City Golf Board, said in June 2023.

The city committed $120,000 to the project in 2022, using federal COVID-19 aid rather than property tax revenue.

That money paid for the software and electronic controls that will operate the irrigation system and contribute to an estimated 20% savings in water use, Woolard said.

A previous city council (none of the current councilors was in office then) decided in June 2023 to loan as much as $700,000 from the Anthony Silvers Street Tree Fund for the project. The city would repay the money over several years, with interest.

That’s the loan that proponents say could be repaid with lodging tax revenue.

The Anthony Lakes Outdoor Recreation Association has managed Quail Ridge for the city since 2020. The city negotiated a five-year lease with the nonprofit starting Jan. 1, 2021.

The nonprofit pays the city an annual lease fee of $5,500, and keeps revenue from greens fees, cart rentals and other operations. The city spent about $20,000 for maintenance at the course in the 2021-22 fiscal year, and about $12,000 the previous fiscal year.

The amount is small largely because Anthony Lakes, rather than the city, manages Quail Ridge.

Golf course spending not a new issue

In November 2023, former city councilor Johnny Waggoner Sr. said he wanted to give city voters a chance to authorize the city to sell the golf course, or at least the nine holes that were built in 1999.

“I don’t mind the golf course, I just want it to pay for itself,” Waggoner said then. “It should be self-supporting as it is. Well, it’s not. I’ve got a better idea — let’s just not own it, let’s sell it.”

Jon France, then the interim city manager, said in November that the golf course “doesn’t play almost at all into our budget problems.”

The entire budget for the golf course fund for the current fiscal year is $39,000.

The general fund is about $7.5 million, and includes the $2.8 million police department and $1.8 million fire department.

“Before Anthony Lakes was there it barely broke even or it lost money,” France said last fall. “We’re not pushing a sale (of the golf course). Anthony Lakes has done a very nice job keeping the course maintained and attracting a lot more visitors. Golf courses are a key piece of why our tourism has stayed steady while other cities around us have dropped off.”

During the council’s March 12 meeting, Warner disputed claims that the golf course has been a drain on the city’s general fund and property taxes.

“The city owns an asset and they have put some money in but it has been minimal dollars over the last 10 years,” Warner said.

Joyce Bornstedt, the city’s public works director, told councilors March 12 that “I think that the general fund impact is minimal when it comes to the golf course.”

The city has a similar arrangement for Sam-O Swim Center — the city owns the pool but the Baker County YMCA operates it.

The Sam-O fund in the city budget, at $302,000 for the current fiscal year, is much larger than the golf course fund. The Sam-O fund includes $101,000 in property taxes. The $39,000 golf course fund includes $25,000 in general fund revenue, but not specifically from property taxes.

Lodging tax revenue reached a record high of $860,000 in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023, more than double the amount from 2019-20.

Tax revenue is on pace to set another record high for the current fiscal year.

Guests at motels, bed and breakfasts, vacation rental homes and other lodging establishments pay the tax at such businesses in Baker City, Halfway, Sumpter and Unity, and in unincorporated parts of the county. About 60% of the total tax is paid by guests at establishments in Baker City, which has the bulk of the county’s motel rooms and many of its vacation rental properties.

The tax rate is 7% of the nightly rental amount.