Trouble is once again brewing at the golf complex. The golf commission and city council will face off over privatization efforts at Tuesday's council meeting.

The commission will first hold a special meeting Monday evening at the golf complex, and all golfers are invited. It may be a last-ditch effort to save the golf complex.

Last year, I wrote a column proving that the golf complex was not losing money. City staff had itemized what the city was charging the golf complex. The funds are billed as "expenses," on the Golf Complex's balance sheet. This move by city bean-counters threw all of the complex's figures into the red. The city should only take profit. A profit is not an "expense." Especially when those "expenses" total about $1 million a year.

Immediately after I wrote that column, the golf commission started receiving financial reports that were indecipherable without hours of interpretation by an experienced CPA. It was impossible to ascertain from those financial pages (and pages, and pages) simple figures of attendance, receipts and profit/loss.

In other words, the commission was suddenly in the dark, removed from any financial knowledge. That has not changed to this day. Frustrated commissioners have complained, loudly and openly, to staff and the council, to no avail. I stopped writing about the commission, hoping that might help, since I seemed to cause the problem.

Common sense, in the void of simple facts, would indicate that a decision has already been made to lease out the golf complex to a private firm. The National Golf Foundation predicted this outcome. The NGF report indicated the major problem at the Chuck Corica Golf Complex - they had never seen a city take so much money from a golf fund, and did not see the city ceasing this practice. The only solution that the NGF found feasible was to lease out the operation to qualified golf people.

At a May 27 budget meeting, the council criticized the golf commission for not balancing their budget. But how could the commission balance a budget with no discernable financial information? The commission was not invited to that May 27 meeting, and since then has fired off letters of complaint to council and staff.

It all comes to a head on Tuesday.

Award-winning golf writer Ron Salsig can be reached at