The new irrigation system at Baker City’s Quail Ridge Golf Course has 450 more sprinkler heads but uses less water.

This might seem counterintuitive, but the explanation is simple, said Nic Carman.

Efficiency.

The new, $1.35 million irrigation system, installed in October 2024 under the “old” nine holes at the city-owned 18-hole course, is much more efficient, said Carman, Quail Ridge manager.

He projects it will reduce water use by 30% to 50%.

The previous irrigation system was installed in the 1930s when the original nine-hole course was built, Carman said (the city built the “new” nine holes in 1999, and Carman said the irrigation system in that section of the course is in good shape).

Such systems typically don’t last more than 50 years, he said. Although the sprinklers still worked, they were prone to leaks that not only wasted water but also left standing water on the course, which harms grass.

“Standing water is really bad for a golf course,” he said.

Valves for the old system controlled blocks of eight to 26 sprinkler heads, Carman said.

The new system, by contrast, allows workers to turn on each of the 650 heads individually, so water can be applied only where it’s needed, which also saves water, he said.

The new sprinkler heads cost $1,000 each, said Carman, who works for Anthony Lakes Outdoor Recreation Association. That’s the nonprofit that also runs Anthony Lakes Ski Area and several U.S. Forest Service campgrounds as well as The Trailhead outdoor shop on Main Street in Baker City.

The city has contracted with Anthony Lakes since 2020 to manage the golf course at 2801 Indiana Ave.

The nonprofit, under a 5-year lease starting Jan. 1, 2021, pays the city an annual lease fee of $5,500, and keeps revenue from greens fees, cart rentals and other operations.

Anthony Lakes’ revenue from the golf course totaled $382,000 in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2023, according to its federal tax return.

The city transferred $20,000 from its approximately $7 million general fund for the golf course for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

The general fund transfer was $25,000 in fiscal 2023-24, $15,000 in fiscal year 2022-23, and $17,000 in fiscal 2021-22.

City Manager Barry Murphy said the golf course is not a financial burden for the city.

He said Anthony Lakes has been a “good partner” in taking on some maintenance tasks the city previously paid for. The current budget for the first time includes a “cost share” line item for Anthony Lakes’ contributions, totaling $14,500.

A big project

Replacing half of the course’s irrigation system presented a far more significant financial challenge than running the course as usual.

In March 2024 the Baker City Council voted 4-1 to hire Mid-America Golf & Landscape Inc., of Missouri, the low bidder, to do the work for $1.35 million.

(Carman, who was a city councilor then, recused himself from the vote and the discussion due to his conflict of interest as an Anthony Lakes employee.)

At the time, city officials estimated that the city would need to borrow about $695,000 from the Anthony Silvers Street Tree Fund. Silvers, who died in 2011, left the city $800,000 to start a fund to pay for trees planted in public areas. The fund has a balance of about $850,000.

A previous city council (none of the councilors who voted to hire the contractor to install the irrigation system was in office then) decided in June 2023 to loan as much as $700,000 from Silvers fund for the project. The city would repay the money over several years, with interest.

Murphy said that due to higher-than-anticipated contributions from other sources, including local golfers, he expects the city will need about $550,000 from the Silvers fund.

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 for the new irrigation system.

The Leo Adler Foundation awarded $160,000 for the project, fundraisers by local golfers yielded $95,500 and a pledge for an additional $21,200 over four years, and the Baker City Golf Club (also known as the Quail Ridge Social Board) donated $20,000.

“The golfers really stepped up,” Murphy said.

He also credited Baker County commissioners, who over the past two years gave the city $450,000 in lodging tax revenue — money paid by guests at motels, vacation rental homes and other lodging — for the irrigation system.

“The county was very supportive,” Murphy said.

The plan is for the city to repay the loan from the Silvers fund not with local property taxes, the biggest source of revenue for the general fund, which includes the police and fire departments.

The money will come instead from the lodging tax, Murphy said.

That repayment plan will be easier, he said, because the city, starting July 1, will be overseeing the lodging tax within the city limits.

The city council voted in March to withdraw from a 2006 agreement with Baker County under which the county collected and administered the tax.

Under that agreement, the three county commissioners decided how to spend lodging taxes. That’s why the city had to request the previous awards from commissioners for the project.

The tax rate will remain at 7% of the rental rate after July 1.

The city must spend at least 70% of lodging tax revenue on tourism promotion or tourism-related projects, as a state law requires. Murphy said the golf course qualifies as a tourism-related facility.

City councilors will decide how to spend lodging taxes, so the city won’t have to apply with the county as before.

Should the city own a golf course?

Murphy said he understands that some residents object to the city spending any money on the golf course, or even owning it.

“There are plenty of people in the city who don’t golf and think the city shouldn’t be involved,” he said.

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.

No such measure has been put on the ballot.

“I don’t mind the golf course, I just want it to pay for itself,” Waggoner said in 2023. “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.”

Murphy said he doesn’t believe that’s a feasible option.

“The reality is there just aren’t a lot of companies that would buy a golf course in a rural area,” he said.

Murphy said it’s more likely that if the city decided to stop operating Quail Ridge, the course would close altogether.

“That would be very, very unfortunate,” he said. “If you lose something big like that it really does take away from the community.”

Murphy compared the golf course to another city-owned facility, Sam-O Swim Center. As with Quail Ridge, the swimming pool is operated by another entity — the Baker Family YMCA.

The city spends more to run the pool than it does the golf course, and the main source of revenue for Sam-O, unlike Quail Ridge, is local property taxes — about $100,000 per year.

Murphy said the golf course is not only an amenity for local golfers, but it attracts visitors who spend money in Baker City motels, restaurants and other businesses.

Quail Ridge also is the home course for the Baker golf teams. Both girls and boys teams host a tournament each spring. The boys tournament, on Monday, April 28, brought 11 other schools to the course.

“That course gets a lot of use, from locals and visitors,” Murphy said.

Carman said Anthony Lakes started last year to collect information from out-of-town golfers with a goal of estimating the course’s economic benefit.

There were 724 rounds of golf played by people who stayed at least one night in Baker County in 2024, he said.

Carman said Anthony Lakes offers 50% off fees for people who show receipts that they stayed overnight anywhere in the county.

He believes the new irrigation system will improve the condition of the course and make it more attractive to visiting golfers.

“We’re really trying to bring more traffic and to boost tourism, and it all starts with the course condition,” Carman said.

Water use

Critics of the city owning Quail Ridge have also pointed out that the city doesn’t charge Anthony Lakes for millions of gallons of water used to irrigate the course each year.

Murphy said the city doesn’t charge the YMCA for water at Sam-O, either.

He said he considers the golf course comparable in that sense to other city-owned facilities that are irrigated and are open to the public, including Mount Hope Cemetery and Geiser-Pollman Park.

The city has in some summers reduced water use at the golf course and the cemetery, when demand for water was high and the volume from the city’s watershed, in the Elkhorn Mountains, dwindled.

The pipelines that bring water from the mountains to the city are gravity-fed, and Murphy said the city doesn’t spend any extra money to bring water just for the golf course.

Joyce Bornstedt, the city’s public works director, said the new irrigation system, by reducing water use at Quail Ridge, will be helpful.

“Quail Ridge Golf Course management and staff recognize the importance of conserving water and are a valuable partner to Baker City in our conservation efforts,” Bornstedt said. “The most recent monumental improvement, renovation of the golf course irrigation system, is an outstanding example of this partnership and our shared dedication to conserving water.”

Bornstedt said some of the city water used to irrigate the golf course is too turbid when it reaches town to be put into the distribution system, so that water is instead diverted into the pond at Quail Ridge from which irrigation water is pumped.

Bornstedt said the city has never been short on water for homes and businesses due to irrigation at the golf course, since irrigation water there, and at the cemetery and parks, is cut back to avoid any effects on residents.